What If
by Wacky Walnut
Summary: Vincent/Chaos saved Lucrecia and Sephiroth from Hojo's clutches? Can he become a new father and what adventures will lye ahead for the little family. Finally complete
1. Prologue

What If…

**What If…**

Disclaimer: FFVII belongs to Square, always has done and always will do. I'm not making any money from this in the slightest

Authors note: This is a challenge I set myself to see what would have happened if Chaos had taken a rather strange turn of heart and helped Vincent get the hell out of the mansion, rescue Lucrecia as well as a young Sephiroth. So therefore it's completely AU, slightly fluffy in places, with time skips and hopefully should transpire into something a little on the interesting side. Well I'll leave the decision to you my avid readers.

--

Unaided Sin

"Let me see my son!" the woman screamed, throwing herself virtually at the feet of the man but he pushed her away roughly with a dark smirk. His words were lost to the body that had formerly been Vincent Valentine as once again the blackness claimed his senses but an unseen figure watched the scene with piped curiosity.

The man was laughing now, cruelly beating the woman to the ground for no apparent reason that Chaos could see. "And let you ruin all my hard work? You are such a fool my dear Lucrecia to think I would have such a thing contaminated. You be a good girl and play with the broken body of a man you claimed to love"

With that Hojo disappeared, still laughing manically and quite frankly pissing the demon off. Sure there were always means bastards in the world but to deny a woman the rights to see her child? Then claim she would contaminate him? She was his mother for Omega's sake, not some pathetic whining cow from the slums who had nothing to do with the aforementioned boy. At least he now knew who Lucy was, Vincent seemed unable to let her go from his mind, despite the fact that he was technically dead, so Chaos had spent many an interesting hour exploring the relationship that should have happened.

Still Chaos was confused as to why he even cared about this situation, it made no sense for him to even be standing there watching her cry. _I'm getting to involved with this man…damn that materia._

Turning to look back at the former Turk, Chaos could only sigh further, "To think of all the humans I could have been born into I get stuck with the likes of you" he commented dryly before turning back to look at the woman who was crying. She was mumbling to herself, incoherently and he was just about to return to the solace of unending darkness when her words caught him completely off guard.

"I'm so sorry" she began as usual, "I meant to say our son, Vincent. Why can't I speak the truth and have this nightmare destroyed before it starts? It's all my fault…all my fault"

The child was Vincent's? That was certainly news to the demon and looking between the two it was hard to imagine a time they got together. Unless they had both been extremely drunk or something at the time but that would at least left some form of odd memory in there and Chaos had searched pretty much through everything that the man had. True it was painfully obvious the feelings they each harboured for each other, to the point where Chaos would have personally smacked them into getting together, but nothing appeared to come of it.

Frowning a little as the woman staggered away to tend to her broken heart and bleeding wounds, Chaos decided to do something all together stupid.

He would find the boy - what had he been called again? – and verify what he had heard from the woman. If indeed she had spoken the truth and not some wistful thinking, then by Omega he would help the pair get away from the sick bastard that was Hojo.

"Damnit, I'm supposed to control you yet here I am ready to try and help. You better be thankful of this in the future Vincent" Chaos muttered before turning and heading out of the room, mentally ordering the other three to get a move on with the healing process.

This was going to be an interesting night.


	2. Life Anew

What If

**What If**

Disclaimer: still don't own

Authors note: time skip warning and cutesy bit for all

--

Life anew

The sun was just beginning to rise over the still sea, turning it to a liquid gold that was flecked with blood. Vincent knew that the thought was pretty morbid but after being trapped in a coffin for seven years, morbid thoughts came pretty naturally to him. Still he marvelled silently at the sun, amazed to be staring at it on a morning with no real idea as to how he had managed to get this far. The smell of gunpowder was still strong, as was the metallic taste in his mouth but this was Costa del Sol, a holiday getaway for a family and he was here. Actually here breathing in the sea salt air and smelling the taste of freedom for the first time since he had joined the Shinra Electrical Company. It was a very alien feeling indeed.

A moan caused him to turn away from the sunrise to look upon his wife, well future wife, gently turn over and brush her fingers lightly over his own. Lucrecia looked different with short hair but Vincent found that it suited her more than the long pony-tail that had to be forcibly lashed together. He had been against her cutting it off at first, saying that they didn't have the time as they were on the run, but she had insisted that they needed to look different. The Turks and authorities would be looking for them, if they changed the way they appeared then they had more chance of survival. Trust Lucy to think of such things when being chased by a rat-tag group of grunts with guns.

Finally he had to give in to her request, simply because he was getting uneasy with all the strange looks they kept on getting. So she had cut her hair and thinned out completely, ditched the scientist look and gone for a regular country girl style of dress. Vincent had to admit it suited her just fine, long flowing pinafores with long sleeved shirts, he nearly didn't recognise her himself at first but that was quickly changing. Luckily Hojo hadn't had much of a chance to get a good look at him when they fled from the Mansion, it was a bit hard to do considering he had barrelled into him, got two clean punches on the face and then left the man winded on the floor as he sprang up to catch Lucy a couple of corridors away.

Still Lucy has insisted that he at least change his style of clothing and whilst there was nothing that could be done about his eyes – no one had invented contact lenses - he had given in to her request to tie up the long black hair. He had been surprised to discover that it was down past his shoulder blades and extremely thick to boot but he didn't complain too much. Even though some people gave him quizzical looks because generally men with long hair did not bother to tie it up. His clothes had changed from the regular issue Turk suit– which had already been modified, presumably before Vincent was thrown into the coffin, though this was mere speculation – into a pair of plain flannel trousers, a sleeveless red top and a rough pair of sandals. Lucy had teased him for looking exceptionally cute when he had first tried it on, which he had not been amused about but he had finally relented enough to give in and wear them. As he had gotten used to them, he found it actually worked in some very unusual way and matched with Lucy perfectly.

Of course the gauntlet had gone, revealing that his left arm from the elbow down was riddled with scars from surgical incisions. It also transpired that it was not that strong, lying feebly at his side and randomly twitching. The sight had distressed Lucy considerably at first, her heart refusing to believe that it was Hojo and not her that had caused all of these problems, but after finding an arm guard made out of leather for next to nothing, Vincent had gladly worn it. It was easy enough to explain away if anyone questioned them about it, some made up story about a farming accident or a chocobo had mauled him when he was a kid. A smile crossed Vincent's lips, who knew that Lucy was good at making up such tales?

The thoughts of chocobo's, mixed with his looking at Lucy, alerted him to the fact that someone else was watching them. With a small sigh, Vincent shook his head, lightly kissed Lucy on the lips and wandered over to the second bed where a small figure was watching him with wide eyes. The child shied away, almost as if he were afraid of being scolded but Vincent just sat down on the edge of the bed and gently ran his hand over the small head, "What's wrong, Sephiroth?"

The child looked down, not used to soft words and being asked what he felt. Barely six years old and it was extremely rare to get even a smile out of him. Vincent couldn't remember where they had come across Sephiroth or even how they had managed to get him out of the building with everything that was going on but somehow he was here with them right now and hopefully starting a new life. Lucy had wept for hours when Vincent had pulled the child from his back, completely forgetting that he was there due to the red cloak strewn roughly around his shoulders and only realising due to a small sneeze. Sephiroth gulped before looking down, shaking his head to try and dismiss whatever it was but Vincent wasn't about to let that happen.

He was virtually an emotionless monster; he didn't need his kid to be one. The thought made him start for a second, though he hid it well and sighed, "You don't have to hide anything from us Sephiroth. We won't hurt you in anyway"

The child sniffed, ducking down into his covers and muttering something that sounded like 'nightmare' but Vincent couldn't be too sure of it. He sighed and softly drew circles around Sephiroth's ear, a trick his father had used on him years ago, "Do you want to talk about them?"

It was a lame comment to make, Vincent knew but he wasn't exactly used to the whole fathering business. Lucy was better at it and Sephiroth seemed to be making a much better connection to her. The child shook his head, shivering slightly besides the heat and screwed up his eyes tightly. Lightly Vincent stroked the top of his head, placed a kiss on top of it as if to say 'I'm right here for you, whenever you are ready' and got up to leave.

It came as somewhat of a shock when a hand reached out and grabbed his fingers, seeking comfort and reassurance. A smile, soft and gentle crossed the ex-Turk's lips before a gentle chuckle escaped and carefully he clambered into the bed so that the child could easily hug into him. There was something that Vincent was good for, in Sephiroth's young eyes, and that was being used as someone to drive away the nightmares. Turning over and snuggling into the broad chest, Sephiroth closed his eyes and tried to remember the smell of smoke from the gun which the other had fired from, hoping it would stop those monsters from coming anywhere near them. He closed his eyes and sighed, little fists clutching at the shirt before he slipped into silent dreams.

Several hours later, Lucy stirred from her own dreams and curiously looked around to find where Vincent had gone. It only took her a couple of seconds to find her two boys on the opposite side of the bed, fast asleep with the deepest look of calm on their faces. Trying not to laugh, despite the cuteness of the scene, she delved into the travel bag and brought out a rather battered old camera.

With a click the moment was preserved and she stuck her tongue out at her husband when one red eye flicked open.


	3. Red Hat

What If…

What If…

Disclaimer: Don't own anything related to FFVII and not making any money out of this at all

Authors note: Yayness, I got reviews and alerts for this story so that makes me happy. I'm not sure how the updating process will go but I'll update with whatever I've got at intervals. Something strange I do when it comes to writing. So there's three new bits to add onto this, please forgive any inconsistencies with the plot and spelling mistakes that may crop up.

--

Red Hat

Travelling across a completely different continent was proving to be a rather interesting experience for the six year old Sephiroth. There were many new sights to see, places he had only heard about came into reality when they walked through them – or more correctly as he was carried, usually on Vincent's back - and there was a host of wonderful new foods to try, weather to experience and an abundance of creatures to attempt to make friends with. So far this had only gone badly once when he had decided it would be fun to chase off after a Tonberry because it had a funny appearance. Lucy – mummy he mentally reminded himself – had screamed in fear but luckily Vincent – Daddy now – was only a couple of feet away and had scooped up the child before he could manage to get anywhere near the little terror. Then had promptly shot at it when the damn thing started to come towards them.

He had been firmly told off for doing such a reckless thing, informed that it was a nasty creature and something that could not be made friends with.

Still he couldn't complain, this world was so far away from the horrid lab where he had spent most of his life that every new experience was something to savour and enjoy. Even though other children playing where something of a mystery as they were very loud and didn't make much sense. His Mummy tended to tell him to go and play with the other children but he could never bring himself to do so, even when Vincent toed him towards a smaller group that was quieter than the others.

Sephiroth had lost track of where they were right now, there was just so many place names to remember. Plus he was far more interested in the strange item that had been roughly shoved onto his head a little while ago. To his dismay his silver hair had been trimmed back but Lucy had attempted to comfort him to the best of her abilities, even spoiling him a little bit to much with a visit to the toy shop – thankfully there was a sale on so they didn't spend that much gill – so for the first time in his life Sephiroth actually had toys to call his own.

When they stopped at anyplace for any amount of time, it was a virtual guarantee that Sephiroth would have one of the toys out and was learning – slowly – how to play with them. Though his favourite was a cuddly Chocobo toy. He didn't know what the bird was but Daddy had promised that they would get one once they reached a farm. The chocobo looked like it had been dragged through several hedges backwards after only a day or two but Sephiroth refused to have it cleaned in any way shape or form and constantly kept hold of it, except when he was riding around on Vincent's back.

Still at the moment, he was more curious in the red thing that had been shoved on his head whilst the small family group made their way towards a town. It was a hat, or so Daddy had said and Sephiroth had no clue about what it was supposed to do. He decided that he probably looked rather silly in it as well but kept it on to avoid being shouted at. It didn't stop him from turning it around so that his hair got completely messed up.

"Oh Seph, what have you done to yourself" chuckled Mummy, taking him off Vincent's shoulders as they stopped to rest, "You look like a white chocobo"

Sephiroth blinked at her in surprise, but quickly got absorbed in actually looking at the hat whilst his mother brushed his hair back to some form of sensibility. It wasn't anything like he had envisioned it, but he had to admit that his head felt a little hotter without it, which was weird. Letting out a yawn, Sephiroth found himself to be extremely tired and the soothing motion of the gentle brush strokes had his eyes dropping to a closed state.

"Looks like someone's tired" Vincent commented, blinking slightly in surprise at how easily that sentence slipped off his tongue. Lucy chuckled again and fished out the Chocobo for Sephiroth who took it without complaint and immediately fell asleep.

"Hmm must be due to someone else telling him stories all night" she chided gently, picking up the hat and placing it back on her sleeping boys head.


	4. Chocobo

What If…

What If…

Disclaimer: Don't own and not making any money out of this

Author's note: warning of this being quite fluffy and cute but had to be done really

--

Chocobo

"Wark!"

Vincent grinned levelly at the scene he was watching from the barn and felt a slight smirk cross his features. His little son Sephiroth was getting his first real experience with real Chocobo's and had decided, in his childish and rather naïve way, that they should make friends with his own. So the little scamp was sitting on the fence of the pen, stuffed toy in outstretched arms and was trying to attract the attention of the real birds by mimicking the noises they made.

It had to be one of the cutest things Vincent could ever remember seeing, and Vincent didn't do cute.

Lucy was virtually glowing with pride from her position next to Sephiroth, ensuring that he didn't fall into the pen and become Chocobo feed. Not that would happen of course, the birds here were tame and reliable so there was no worries there. One of the smaller Chocobo's had looked up and replied back to Sephiroth's tone, taking a couple of steps towards him with large eyes.

"Wark?" it asked

"Wark!" Sephiroth intimated back

A chuckle from beside him caused Vincent to turn to see the farm owner also watching the scene but unable to hide his merriment at such a scene, "Heh the kids got talent when it comes to those birds. Most can't even get them to look interested"

Vincent nodded, "Well he is exceptional in a lot of ways"

The farmer nodded, "I could tell that the second I clapped eyes on him. A real treat he must be for you and your wife"

"Yeah, that he is" Vincent thought to himself and felt an all too familiar kick in the back of his brain which indicated that Chaos wanted to speak with him. "So what has Shinra been up to around here?" he asked carefully, making it seem casual as possible.

Sephiroth jumped in surprise when all the birds in the paddock let out a trill of noise and then somehow turned it into music. It was an oddly fun sound, easily catchy and bounded with energy. The chocobo's seemed to really like this sound as well, appearing to go into some form of dance. One wing would rise up, followed by the other and their necks would go around in a circle before they took three steps forward and did the same thing again.

With a final group "WARK!" thirty seconds later, the music and sound stopped. Sephiroth was about to clap when the first chocobo waddled over to him and dropped a brightly coloured ball into his hands and then trotted off to go and eat. Tilting it up to the light, Sephiroth stared at it in wonder, "What's this Mummy?"

"I'm not sure" Lucy said carefully prising it from his eager little fingers to stare at it. She knew materia well enough, having seen it millions of times before but this one she didn't quite know what it was.

"That be a summon materia, my dear" came the sound of the farmers voice, followed by Vincent, "You must be a natural with chocobo's my boy" he addressed Sephiroth, "Few people are ever able to get hold of the ability to summon Choco/Mog"

Sephiroth blinked shyly at the man, he still wasn't exactly used to getting comments from random strangers but a small smile did play upon his lips. With a grin, Vincent pulled the young boy off the fence and got a giggle in return for playing such mad games. "Come on Lucy, sorry to cut the visit short but we have to make tracks"

The farmer nodded, "No problems, you're welcome to come back anytime. I'll keep an eye on those chicks for you as well…but what name shall I keep them under?"

Lucy thought for a few seconds and then smiled, as Vincent was busy trying to wrestle Sephiroth onto his back whilst the child was complaining that he wanted to stay and play with the chocobo's. She turned back to the farmer, "We're the Gainsborough family, keep them under that name"

The farmer nodded, "Very well Mrs. Gainsborough. Hope to see you soon"

Vincent waited until they were a good mile or two away from the farm before he frowned at Lucy, "Gainsborough? Where did you get that name from?"

A sad smile crossed Lucy's lips, "It was in a file I read, something to do with Gast…the name always stuck out"

Vincent left it at that, whilst Sephiroth continued to play with his newly acquired summon materia completely oblivious to the conversation that was going on around him.


	5. Campfire Talk

What If…

What If…

Disclaimer: Yay you know already, I don't own and not making any money for this

--

Campfire Talk

"You do realise that you're going to get caught if you keep on travelling like this?" came the slightly odd raspy voice that Vincent had come to identify as Chaos over the years that he was trapped inside the coffin. Pushing himself upright, he glared at his counterpart, easily able to see the creature by the fire in this darkness. The first time the other had appeared like this, Vincent had nearly attempted to shoot until Chaos pointed out that it would only lead to him injuring himself which was never a good thing.

The gunslinger sighed and looked away from the flames, trying to appear as neutral as possible, "Of course I do, but I've got a plan already it's just implementing it"

Chaos scoffed, "Living in the countryside like some hillbilly? That's not your style at all Vincent Valentine, you're a city brat whether you like it or not"

Vincent narrowed his red eyes, "I can change, and I'm doing pretty well at the minuet thank you"

"Oh yeah? Only cause I'm covering your back" Chaos snarled, trying to make himself as imposing as possible but finding it harder than normal due to his attention being distracted, "Those goons would have caught up to you already if it hadn't been for me"

"Chaos, what you fail to forget is that we're covering our tracks just fine. No ones asked any strange questions and when we have run into patrols…"

"The only reason you got by them was due to the face that they were a bunch of rank newbie's" Chaos cut in, "Do you really think a man with red eyes, walking around with a woman and a kid is really going to go un-noticed? True there are some people who would turn a blind eye but everyone's corruptible. Even you"

Rubbing at his temple, Vincent sighed and knew that this argument wasn't going to be easy to win. Regardless of what he said, Chaos would just throw another sharp edged blade at him and what was worse was that he was completely right. Letting out a sigh, the ex-Turk ran his fingers lightly over Cerberus and knew the next comment out of his lips would probably change the entire course of their existence. "What do you suggest we do then? Since you appear to be so against my plan"

Chaos leered, "I'm not totally against it, you had a good bit of sense inside that feeble thing you call a mind. But what I'm going to suggest is that you go back to one of the larger, more populated areas. The idiots at Shinra will be searching for people who stick out in a small community and let's face it Valentine, you pretty much stand out wherever the hell you go thanks to that bloody legacy of yours"

Vincent glared at Chaos, he hated that being mentioned just like his father had before him but it was a valid point. Just one he wished hadn't been made.

"Touchy subject yes? Not really surprised but never mind" Chaos continued red eyes boring into the matching pair "Go back into one of the larger cities and blend in. Get a crummy job, complain about taxes and send your kid to school with countless others. The Turks will have to spend years trying to track the three of you down but it's just a suggestion of course. Think it over for the rest of the night" with a chuckle which sent shivers down Vincent's spine, Chaos disappeared and the slight darkening around the edges faded.

Blinking, Vincent looked across the small campfire to where Lucy and Sephiroth lay asleep. He knew that the demon was right of course but sometimes he wished he wouldn't be. Those two deserved freedom, a chance at a new life without being constantly on the run. They all did but Vincent still felt guilty for the pain he had caused his beloved Lucy. Digging into his pocket, he pulled out a ring which glimmered dully in the firelight and let a smile cross his usually dull features. Tomorrow he would do it and then they could start again properly but as a real family.

A city was too much of a danger for him to go for, Chaos thought differently but they were always going to disagree regardless of what the argument was about. He looked up at the trees and remembered that they weren't to far from The Golden Saucer and two fairly large towns. One was Corel, which was a definite no go due to a reactor being built but he recalled Gonogera easily enough. He had gone there on a mission to check up on the progress of the reactor there. It was far enough out of the way for the Turks to overlook everything and plus the community was made up of a mix of people who had come from all over the world. It would be a good place to start again.

Vincent sighed and put the ring back into his pocket before resuming his watching duties at hearing a sound creeping closer to them. Of course he had promised to take Sephiroth to Cosmo Canyon, as they had managed to wind up in slightly the wrong place but that didn't matter.

A starlit wedding sounded highly appealing to Vincent but first he had to get rid of some monsters who were trying to eat his family. Looked like Cerberus would definitely get some good use tonight.

--

Authors Note: Well there you go, hope you enjoyed. Please review and tell me what you think


	6. Starlit Wedding

What If

What If

Disclaimer: Don't own Vincent, Lucrecia, Sephiroth or any of the places mentioned. I do own one original Turk but that doesn't account for a lot.

Authors note: So sorry I haven't updated in a while, been busy with a load of stuff and only just finally gotten enough free time to sit and write without getting yelled at for something. So in exchange for your patience you're getting two chapters that are actually linked properly and one is a little longer than the others yippee. Anyway enjoy and review please!

Starlit Wedding

The priest smiled a real glow showing in his eyes at being able to perform such an honest and worthwhile ceremony after what felt like a thousand or so years, "I now pronounce you…"

Time slowed down for Vincent as he stared at his beautiful Lucrecia, veiled in a gentle shade of cream and an extraordinarily simple white dress which had been kindly lent to them by one of the old ladies at Cosmo Canyon. He had of course attempted to pay for the lone but she had refused, saying that it wasn't right for such a young couple to get married in whatever they happened to own and she had no use for it these days. It had been such a nice jester of the lady that Vincent wasn't able to let it go and had left a small handful of gil in a bag for her to find later on. It was money they needed but such kindness was something that was lacking these days.

Lucy for her part smiled lovingly at Vincent, feeling the weight of many years of worry, strife and horror finally lifting from her heart as the ring glistened gently around her finger. She had locked her heart up so long ago and let it wilt away to nothing more than just a thing which kept the blood pounding around her body which only now she realised was a foolish thing to do. Her whole life had been honed in, trapped and never allowed to expand but now for the first time it would. No more hiding emotions behind walls, she had enough of a problem with both of her boys doing that anyway without her continuing to do such a thing.

Blinking his large eyes, Sephiroth stared at his parents with wonder and awe, allowing a smile to cross his features. Whilst the concept of love was still a bit illusive to the six year old, for the first time he was truly seeing it and understanding it as well. He felt extremely proud of the pair of them, in his naïve way but couldn't help wish that there was a camera around to capture the moment. He wanted to keep the moment forever and nearly jumped out of his skin when there was a flash above him. Looking up, he smiled at the photographer who gave him a thumbs up in reply and Sephiroth went back to watching his parents.

"Man and wife" the priest had finished forming the words finally in Vincent's head and gently pulling the veil back from his wife's face, he leaned in and kissed her. Immediately there were cheers from the circle of onlookers and howls from the Liatos who were also gathered.

Unseen by the crowds, Chaos leaned ideally against a stone and watched the whole proceedings with a slight air of concern about him. Whilst he was relieved that Vincent had finally done what he should have done more than a few years ago – which he was still going to smack the other over for all eternity if he got half the chance – the demon was genuinely worried about the small families future prospects. True Cosmo Canyon had accepted them enough and Buhagana or whatever the heck that crazy scientist was called, had enough sense to tell the folks to keep quiet of tonight's activities and not speak to any outsiders about it there was still something that just had Chaos a little bit on the edge side.

It could have been the simple fact that he was in a bit of a foul mood because Vincent had scored an extremely pretty wife whom he would have loved to have claimed as his own if she had been alive when the time of destruction came, but he put it down more to the fact that he could feel the life stream moving a little to close to the three. Watching as Sephiroth ran up to his parents, laughing as he was scooped up and given hugs and sloppy kisses, Chaos felt a pang of regret but it was diminished within seconds when a shadow of another crept close by. He frowned, knowing the presence immediately but not entirely sure what the little creep was up to, "And just what the heck are you doing here brother?"

"Nothing, you have no need to fear me" came Nero's voice, a slithering hiss that always sent shivers down Chaos's spine regardless of the fact that they were related, "Just observing"

"Observing what, you two bit annoyance" Chaos countered, shutting himself completely off from Vincent to allow the family some time alone. Plus he really didn't fancy being a voyeur of the consummation that would just be messy.

Nero laughed, glad to see that he had well and truly rattled Chaos's cage. It had been forever true that they had never been close as brother; Nero more inclined to stay with Omega rather than explore the surface and get himself caught within the traps of human existence. "Just what you were up to, after all your interest in the humans…"

"You say another word Nero and I will have hours of fun letting Galian Beast play fetch with your head" Chaos threatened in a low voice.

Raising his hands in a form of surrender, Nero simply shook his head and sighed, "That is no way to threat one of your own, my dear brother…" he stopped trying to suck up when a growl came his way, "Fine, be a pain in the neck. If you want to know what I'm doing here you should really ask Omega"

Rolling his eyes skywards, Chaos turned back to watching his little family – technically speaking they were as long as he resided within the gunslinger – a smile forming on his face, "But as usual he sends you to do his dirty work for him. The only time I'll go near him is a long way off and he knows fine well that I am not the person to annoy…because I hold the only key to his eventual escape and he doesn't want to risk loosing that"

"That is where you are severely mistaken brother" Nero said mysteriously before turning to look at the three figures and seeing something there that was but a shadow of a possibility. A sly grin appeared under the facemask, clearly visible as it reached his eyes, "You changed the course of the future Chaos, and this will play into our hands all to well. I would advise that you don't get to attached to them…their blood is the cause of all the pain and sorry that is to come"

"What do you mean?" Chaos rounded on his brother, only to find the winged git escaping into his own realm of darkness. Growling he reached out to grab a hand which was raised in mocking salute towards him but missed by mere millimetres. Cursing in some ancient tongue which few would be able to understand, Chaos turned and practically jumped out of his skin when he spotted another figure in front of him. "Who the hell are you?" he shouted, readying for a fight.

The new figure didn't turn around, though somehow he appeared a little bit familiar. He was hunched over, one hand clinging to his arm and wearing a large overcoat which flared out. Chaos stared at him, surprised that the man hadn't replied to his shout and slowly lowered his guard. "Hey…mister ghost…what the hell?"

The figure moved, a sigh escaping him before a deep voice rang out, hauntingly familiar, "At least he got what he wanted out of life even if he had to go the long way around to get it. I am glad for you son"

Chaos blinked to ensure that he wasn't going crazy and was still in the real realm and not some foul trick by an overzealous brother. He even pinched himself to ensure it and immediately wished he didn't, "Son?"

"I leave you in peace Vincent, watch over them like I failed to do for you" came the voice again as the spirit slowly began to fade away. Chaos allowed his yellow eyes to open wide in shock as he finally realised who it was, "Grimore Valentine? Why aren't you already within the life stream?"

A chuckle, deep and playful and so unlike Vincent's, "Because I had to see him through to the end. I wanted to see him happy and free of worry. You better help them all"

With no sound, Grimore disappeared and Chaos blinked to find that there was utter chaos – why the hell did he have the same name drove him batty sometimes, it wasn't as if he was the culprit of the problems that humans caused themselves – was in the process of going on.

Whilst the demon had been conversing with his brother and the spirit, the wedding celebrations had suddenly been interrupted by the appearance of the Turks. There were about eight, how was a sheer miracle and they were backed up by a squad of grunts. Pulling Lucy and Sephiroth close to his body, Vincent had drawn Cerberus and immediately had it pointing to the one who appeared to be the Commander of this particular outfit. Really he should have at least known a couple of them, it had only been about seven years since he had unofficially retired from the group but he couldn't be to sure. Plus the three 'pets' of Chaos were having a blistering argument over who was going to get to slash the bad guys first and for the first time ever, the gunslinger found himself longing for the demon to appear and control his charges.

Not that this appeared on his face of course, the red eyes narrowing dangerously, "I would advise that you get out of here if you value your lives"

The Turk smiled wickedly, "That was the sort of talk that would have gotten you a long way a long time ago Valentine but not anymore. We're here to collect all three of you and we will win"

"What makes you so sure?" Vincent didn't want to fight right now, it would just spoil everything but his senses told him that it would occur regardless of what he said. It would be better to act now, think with his instincts but if he did that then automatically Lucy and Sephiroth were in danger of being captured or worse killed.

The officer snorted at him and the ex-Turk felt a bitter taste in his mouth as he recognised him as Cort, a slimly greasball who liked to play with his intended victims or targets before destroying them. "Because we know you Valentine and I really doubt you're going to risk hurting those two things" Cort glared pointatly at the female and the child, disgusted by the prospect of what they were, "So if I were in your shoes then I would just…"

Before he could finish his sentence, Vincent had sent a flurry of shots off towards him and the others, pushing his wife and son into the arms of the local townsfolk who instantly acted as shields for them even though they held no connection to either. Immediately a battle the likes that Cosmo Canyon had never seen. Seto summoned the tribe, bringing some much needed relief to the stricken gunslinger whilst sending his wife and young son to protect Vincent's family. Joining the human, the Liat let out a roar before charging forward with a glow of light. Cort was pretty much blasted to the ground but the squadron behind him immediately opened fire and with a groan of pain, Vincent crashed to the ground, numerous bullet wounds spilling out trickles of blood which would have killed an ordinary man instantly.

There was a scream to his right and turning he saw Lucy being dragged away from Sephiroth, with the little boy yelling with horse tears for his mummy to come back. Finding some inner strength, Vincent pushed himself up and went to charge at the group but found himself grappled by two Turks who he did not recognise as well as Cort who was sporting a bloody nose and a handkerchief filled with chloroform. "Lucrecia!" he yelled, struggling with all his might, "Sephiroth!"

The scene was disturbing to see and Chaos felt himself shake with anger at the fact his subordinates had done nothing to help, but there again knowing those three they would have been arguing over the right of who got to help. Joining himself back with the others, he firmly smacked them on the head before hearing the cries of Lucy and Sephiroth. If he had a heart by the human definition of things it would have broken in two and with a roar he charged through Vincent's mental barriers, taking control and seizing the battle firmly into his hands.

The darkness was finally broken by the feeling that someone was shaking him in desperation, whilst yelling out a word which wouldn't quite form itself in his mind. Slowly opening his eyes, Vincent cursed the brightness of the glowing flame but let out a shaky breath to regain what little of his mind lingered. The word was still being repeated, quieter this time and he was aware of a small amount of pressure on his upper arm and shoulder. As well as a small amount of dampness. Twisting his head down to see what was going on, he saw a small child with silver hair literally weeping on his arm. This confused him for a few seconds but then with a snap his mind seemed to wake up and he gasped in uncharacteristic surprise. "Sephiroth?" he asked quietly, hoping that the child would not be too startled.

Surprisingly the boy wasn't but instead immediately threw his arms around the others neck, weeping harder than he had done previously. Vincent pushed himself up into a sitting position, cradling his son in what he hoped was an affectionate way before taking a look around the small platoe that had been part of Cosmo Canyon. It appeared to be the same as ever, obviously the life stream had done its work but the devastation of the battle clearly remained. What had he done? Looking down at Sephiroth again, he placed a light kiss on his head, "It's all right Sephiroth, we're safe now. Where's Mummy?"

Sephiroth shook his head, "I don't know! The dog won't let me go see her…"

"Dog?" Vincent enquired before looking up to see what appeared to be the galian beast prowling around but there was something different about him. Vincent rose, ensuring to carry Sephiroth in his arms and walked towards the creature that turned and snarled once before simply fading away. Vincent frowned and mentally sough out Chaos in his mind.

'_Ow my head'_ _the demon complained, rubbing at his temples before frowning slowly, 'that was a battle we should not have survived Vincent'_

'_What do you mean by that?' _Vincent immediately found himself asking as he continued walking forward, keeping an eye out for Lucy at all costs

'_I mean what I say…whatever they used on you was enough to affect me…something happened out there but I don't know what' Chaos sounded unusually wary for some reason, like he was trying to figure out something and not liking the idea of it._

Looking around, Vincent spotted Lucy in the distance being comforted by a bunch of the locals but she seemed distant. There was only one explanation for that and Vincent didn't really want to face it but knew that the woman had to understand her own heart before she could start to rebuild her life again.

'_Are you even paying attention Vincent?' Chaos asked_

_No sorry…I'm worried about Lucrecia. Did you ask Galian to keep Sephiroth from her? _

There was a long pause, obviously the demon was talking to his pet dog as Vincent chose to see it but he was aware of a bit of mixed confusion as well as the fact that his memories were forcibly replayed inside his head which caused him to curse rather cruelly. Thankfully Sephiroth was desperately trying to reach out to his mother and was not paying attention in the slightest.

'_Hmm that was not Galian…this is an interesting situation, one that will need looking into. But right now I'm going to take care of these wounds, let her heal you before any funny business all right? It only hurts more if you don't, unless of course you're into that sort of thing' Chaos mused, slipping back into the dark consciousness of the others mind to heal. _

Groaning with such a thought, Vincent raced over to Lucy, glad to be able to hold her in his arms once again. The rest of the night past by with little event, both parties being too exhausted to do anything else and aware that they would have to leave this lovely little hamlet else they be caught once again.

--

Authors note: Nero always slightly creeped me out, hence why Chaos wants to smack him around the head.


	7. Scardy Cat

What If

What If

Disclaimer: Don't own anything, not claiming to…minus the bad spelling of place names though, that's my own damn fault lol

Authors note: Promised you two chapters and here's the second one, more cuteness and fluffs than you could realistically shake a stick at but meh enjoy.

Scaredy Cat

Sephiroth found himself unable to sleep, even with the help of his favourite cuddly toy which now looked pretty much past the point of all redemption but there was no way that he was going to give it up. Even though the chocobo was now a horrible shade of grey with splodges of red, black and green, had lost one of it's eyes somewhere along the way, posted more torn sections that the cloak that Vincent sometimes wore out of habit – he had successfully snuck it into their backpack after having given up the black leather – and by any normal rights would have been thrown in the bin weeks ago. But could Lucy or Vincent get it away from the stubborn six year old? Not even a baharmut summon could have done it.

Dragging the decrepit looking thing outside, Sephiroth walked to a small outcrop on the rocks and sat down, staring up at the stars with a small amount of wonder. He had never really seen the stars and had no real inclination as to what they were but somehow he knew that they were peaceful things to watch. Of course the moment was spoilt a mere half an hour later when Nanaki happened to playfully jump on him and promptly proceed to try and lick his face clean. "Aww gerroff! Sephiroth giggled, trying to wrestle away from the Liat but found that it was next to impossible to do.

"Nanaki" Soto's strong and firm voice floated across to join the tussling pair and the young cub looked up with a pout but slowly he got off the boy.

"It's alright, Mr. Soto. He was just playing with me" said Sephiroth, trying his best to come to the others defence but not entirely sure if he had done a good job or not.

Soto chuckled, "There is no need to explain away the cub's actions my dear child but I am afraid that Nanaki is attempting to use you as an excuse to curb his bedtime rules which I cannot permit"

Sephiroth turned to Nanaki who was looking distinctly disgruntled at the thought of bedtime but couldn't bring himself to say anything against his father. Sephiroth knew that feeling as well; he rarely complained towards Vincent on the sole count that he was fearful of what the man would do if he was annoyed and if today was anything to go by. He lowered his head, staring down at his hands and wondering if Hojo had done the same thing to him…if really deep down he was a monster. Soto seemed to sigh, recognising the situation as Nanaki gently munched on Sephiroth's hair in a cute fashion. "Fine, fifteen more minuets Nanaki but then you and your friend will really have to go to sleep"

Turning his head in surprise at the others comment, Sephiroth stared at the young cub, "Are we really friends?"

Nanaki yapped playfully at him, nuzzling his side before nodding his head. The six year old was fully aware of the fact that the other could talk, just that it was something he didn't do much of at the moment. Why was a mystery but it suited Sephiroth down to the ground. "Can I tell you something really secret then?"

Nanaki nodded again, sitting upright with his tail swishing back and forth happily. Sephiroth remembered spending nearly an hour trying to catch the flame on the end of it earlier that day but right now it was merely a distraction from his thoughts. Nanaki seemed to understand this and shoved his head under the crux of the others arm to try to get him to talk. "I don't know if I should speak about these sorts of things but today I was scared…for the first time in my entire life. I mean Hojo did some horrible things to me, to us all but seeing that monster come out of Daddy, I was so scared. I didn't even take the healing potion over to him when everything was over…not until I saw him again and I feared I had acted to late" Sephiroth looked down at the ground, unaware that Vincent was leaning ideally against the door of the little Inn they were currently staying in, Soto not far away from him.

Letting out a sigh, Vincent closed his eyes, allowing his dark free flowing hair to cover his face. He was a monster then, in his son's eyes.

"I am a bad person for being afraid and not helping?" Sephiroth spoke, sounding worried beyond anything.

Vincent was about to step forward but felt a sudden nudge on his knee from Soto who simply shook his head at the gunslinger, telling him to remain still for the time being. A few seconds past by and then a voice, youthful but full of wisdom floated across, "No, you reacted as you should have Sephy. Everyone has monsters inside them, anger, fear, hatred the whole lot. Your Dad's special in the fact that in battle he can unleash those sorts of feelings into a psychical form which can and will stop all those wicked men who try to hurt you and your mother" it took Vincent a couple of seconds to realise it was Nanaki talking, "You were scared cause you've never seen that side of him before…"

"I did though…once" cut in Sephiroth, suddenly recalling the night that they had fled from the Mansion. Vincent had been in that form then as well now he came to think of it and he hadn't been remotely scared in the slightest. Which was strange. But so much had changed since then, he was different from that boy and it felt like a whole other world away.

Nanaki grinned, "See, things like that happen all the time. If you get scared you get scared, if you're not you're not. It's not a sign of weakness, even my Dad gets scared of things…especially butterflies but I didn't tell you that"

"Butterflies?" Sephiroth said with a cheeky grin before ducking as a 'ahem' from Soto as he picked Nanaki up by the scruff of his neck and nodded once to indicated that it was most certainly time for bed.

Vincent grinned, tickling his son in the sides with a 'rah' sound before lifting him up high to be accompanied by the usual amount of squeals and giggles that usually came from the child when he did this, "Not much of a monster am I?"

"Nope! Daddy!" Sephiroth pointed at Vincent before yawning and rubbing his eyes, "Sleepy"

"Come on, time to get you and chocobo to bed" Vincent said picking the ragged thing up before letting out a disgusted sound as it was obvious that Nanaki had been chewing it, "After Choco's had a good wash"

Upon hearing no complaint from the young boy, Vincent looked down to see his small son fast asleep. Rolling his eyes, he made his way back inside, tucking the boy up with his mother before dropping the offending toy into a bowl of soapy water to soak for the night. Or disintegrate whatever it chose to do first. As he wandered back to the bed, a thought struck him that made him stop dead in his tracks.

When by the planet had he gotten so good at being a father?

Authors note: Hopefully I'll update soon, read, review and alert! It helps my creativity lots


	8. New Home

What If

What If

Disclaimer: Don't own FFVII in anyway shape or form and not making any money out of this in the slightest

Authors note: Quick little update for you today, just a short piece to establish the new main setting though I would love it if someone could help correct my spelling of the town cause for the life of me I cannot remember it – and I can't get to it on the game cause I'm –this- close to munching Sephiroth – as long as I don't get cut down by blooming guardian beastie things of course. It's supposed to be Zack's hometown if that helps anyone out. Anyway enjoy and expect an update sometime soon

New Home

Padding around the room quietly, dressed in a pair of green pyjama's and Scooby-Do slippers, Sephiroth didn't know quite what to do with himself at the moment. He knew by all rights he should be in bed, fast asleep but this place didn't quite feel right to him somehow. Sleeping outside with the stars for cover was easy enough, it was usually chilly and the soft sounds which were round about always lulled him into a peaceful sleep but being in a room that was his own was something unusual indeed. During the day he had been perfectly happy in the place, the wooden walls feeling soft to the touch and warm as well completely the opposite of the coldness he was used to.

Now that night was well set in, Sephiroth found that the room wasn't as warm anymore and he didn't feel all together safe with the strange creaks and groans that came form all areas. Most he had eventually identified as his parents shifting around but there were others that had him wanting to run to his mother's arms and stay with her. But he couldn't be scared of such things, it just wouldn't do.

The sound of laughter caught his attention and creeping towards the window he looked out curiously to see a bunch of teenagers milling about. They were clanking bottles and laughing about something without so much of a care in the world. What was even stranger was that Sephiroth got the feeling that they were being watchful whilst enjoying themselves. Something caught their attention and with groans as the door nearest them opened, spilling light onto them all and a woman berated them, another small boy clinging to her legs.

Allowing a smile to cross his face as he watched everything, Sephiroth slowly pushed open his window and let the night air hit him. Whilst he couldn't pick up the words that the woman was shouting, he felt comforted by them and being able to see the stars helped ease his worried heart. It was like his father said; Hojo wouldn't be searching for them near a Mako reactor building site so they would be a whole lot safer than somewhere like Corel or Rocket Town.

Looking around the homes with their little gardens and the distant sounds of processing going on in the background, Sephiroth couldn't help but feel that for the first time in his entire short life he finally had a place to call home. Gonogrea was his hometown now and no one was ever going to learn about his heritage in Neliblehiem. He didn't need to practice sword techniques, read battle diary's or study the effects of Mako being injected into his body. Whilst he could never get rid of the glow in his eyes, he was sure there was a plausible story that could be made up to explain it away, just like with Vincent's arm.

Smiling tiredly, Sephiroth hopped down off the windowsill and clambered into bed as any six year old should. He had no idea what the future held for him now but he was sure looking forward to it.


	9. Lucy's Day

What If

What If

Disclaimer: Don't own FFVII in anyway shape or form and not making any money out of this.

Authors note: Well here's the next bit guys, these four link in with one another so hence why I'm updating them all at once – bar the forth cause I've yet to write it - and hopefully they'll bring all sorts into it. First up is Lucy. Enjoy

Lucy's Day

Being a home maker certainly wasn't anything like Lucy expected it to be and she found that if she didn't make lists of things to do then something would inevitably get forgotten about. Not that it was much of a problem of course, just she felt rather silly for not dealing with whatever it was when she should have done. Vincent told her to stop fussing and just take it easy when she wanted it, after all it wasn't like either of them really wanted to live in a spotless house with every luxury that could be afforded. The Shinra Mansion hadn't been a model example of cleanliness to begin with so why should she worry about their little one up, one down house being the crème de la crème? Plus it had only been a week since they had moved in, so things were liable to be all over the place until they were more settled.

At least Sephiroth wasn't complaining too much, he was more than happy to spend time with his mother helping out around the house and doing chores than most little boys of his age. Lucy couldn't begin to even thank the heavens for granting her such a sweet little thing but she did wish he would go out and make friends with the other children but that was a step to far for Sephiroth it appeared and he definitely didn't want that sort of hassle. Thankfully though, luck was around the corner in the form of Brea and Grace Fair who had quickly made friends with the 'Gainsborough' family.

Humming lightly to herself, Lucy set about making some cakes whilst Sephiroth was sitting ideally on the kitchen table, colouring in a series of picture books with wax crayons. It was a cold day, with a smattering of rain and Lucy hoped that Vincent wouldn't catch anything what with him being out at work. A quick succession of knocks at the door told her that Grace had come over once again for a cup of tea and a chat and quickly she raced over to let her in, "Hello Grace, oh get in before you get soaked to the bone"

"Heh that's the city lass in ya talking Lucy," replied Grace, smartly stepping in and dragging something behind her with a forceful tug, "hope you don't mind but I brought the little scoundrel with me today since he can't seem to sit still for more than five minuets and there's no way that I'm cleaning his clothes for the rest of the day"

Lucy looked down to see that the thing Grace was dragging was actually a small boy with black spiky hair and large blue eyes. His clothes were stained with mud and water but a big grin was plastered on his face that had Lucy smiling, "hello Miss Lucy!" he said chirpily

Lucy smiled, "Ah so you must be Zackary right?" she said, kneeling down to see him more eye to eye.

The boy pulled a face, "its Zack! No one calls me Zackary unless it's my mum when she's telling me off for something"

Grace tugged sharply on the boys ear, "That's quite enough out of you boy. Now why don't you go and introduce yourself to little Seph over there and leave us grown ups to chat on"

Without a glance backward, Zack charged off after Sephiroth who had decided to disappear upstairs for a short time. Grace laughed well naturedly as she tugged a basket up onto the counter, "Heh I guess Seph's still a little shy around other kids then"

"Yes he is unfortunately" Lucy replied, her eyes wandering to the basket which was overflowing with food and other stuff, "Hopefully your Zack will be a good playmate for him"

"Heh I would bet a couple of gill that by the end of the week your boy will be running around causing just as much havoc as the little toe rag himself" replied Grace, shifting a couple of loafs of bred onto the table, "Zack has that effect on people. Or he'll be trying to kill him, one or the other"

Shaking her head, Lucy sighed and turned get out a couple of glasses from the cupboard, "I'm afraid we've only got milk in at the moment, or water. Till market day comes around of course"

Grace chuckled, "I got a couple of bottles of juice in here, as well as a little bottle of bubbly for your Vince cause I'm sure he's going to be mighty proud of you"

"What do you mean by that?" Lucy asked, pausing in her pouring to look at the other woman with a confused expression.

There wasn't a response for a few seconds whilst Grace went through her list, "Yup I think that's everything…though I'm afraid I couldn't get my hands on any chocolate, the damn stuffs turned into liquid gold at the moment"

"Grace" Lucy stared at the pile of food that was on her work space in the kitchen, "I only asked for a couple of things, what's with all of this?"

Grace glanced up at her, "Well seeing as you'll be eating for two…"

"What?" Lucy cut in, staring at her with a look of horror and confusion.

There was a pause as Grace looked Lucy over before a smile crossed her lips, "Ah you don't know do you, Lucy my girl?"

"Know what?" Lucy asked her voice a high pitch with worry and fear of what the other woman was going to say.

"Unless my deductions have gone amiss over the last year or so, I think you're pregnant my dear" replied Grace with a gentle chuckle.

Lucy sat down with a thump on the nearest chair, "P-pregnant?"

Grace nodded, "Yup. You're showing all the signs of being so. Course we'll have to get you checked out with the doctor, he should be around later today actually cause I arranged an appointment for you so we'll know for definite then"

"But…but how?" Lucy placed her hands either side of her head, "I mean…it shouldn't be…can't be"

"Lucy my dear, your glowing radiantly, sighing to yourself happily, eating far more than I guess you ever did and dressing yourself more like a mother each day" Grace patted her on the head, "I've been a midwife long enough to recognise the sings blindfolded. Soon your little family of three is going to go up to four"

Hiding her eyes, Lucy was simultaneously going through two different emotions. One was of utter joy that she was going to be a mother for the second time in her life and the other was the utter devastation of what could be lurking within her. Tears trickled out of her eyes, "What am I going to do?"


	10. Vincent's Day

What If

What If

Disclaimer: Don't own, never have and never will and certainly not making any money out of this

Authors note: I'm playing around with characters ages in this fic, otherwise Sephiroth wouldn't have anyone to play with and I really don't want to many OC's wandering around. So here's Vincent's day and somehow it's turned out to be quite long, don't ask me how but it has done. Anyway enjoy.

Vincent's Day

He had forgotten how tiring working a full day could be, especially when the sort of work that he had gotten employed in involved running back and forth constantly with messages for various people, a variety of different types of materials and materia for binding purposes and getting constantly shouted out for tripping up, getting in the way, not doing what he was supposed to be doing and a thousand and one other things which were entirely meaningless to the ex-Turk. Vincent placed a box down with a heavy sigh, feeling as though his entire body was going to break with the pressure that was being exerted and berated himself for being a 'city-boy with no muscle' as he had been dubbed by his fellow employees. It wasn't his fault in the slightest of course but it would be a bit impractical to mention the fact that he was thirty-four years old technically speaking and probably had more organisation skills than the whole of the management team put together.

What made the pill even more painful to swallow was the fact that he was working for the Shinra Company once again.

Chaos had gone berserk inside his head when Vincent had taken the job, saying that he was being a reckless idiot but in terms of what they needed to survive, the gunslinger would have taken any job that was offered to him. Even if it did mean spending the entire day emptying, cleaning and disinfecting the chemical toilets.

"Hoi! Newbie!" came a yell which had Vincent sighing in irritation but he quickly wandered over to the Foreman, a balding chubby man with a nature which was immediately unlikeable, "I want you to run these messages over to the digger crews and then report to Hudson and Fair for the extra help their going to need this afternoon" the man shoved three stinking letters into Vincent's hand, "Go on! Get a move on before I tan your hide you insolate b-"one glance up at the glaring red eyes was enough to shut Foreman up and with a wave of his hand he indicated that the other should leave.

Shaking his head, Vincent set off and wondered if the Foreman was smart enough to even realise that he was a wanted man. Probably not, considering the idiot had about as much memory as when his next extensive tea break was and that was that. Dodging around a selection of different people, Vincent eventually found the digger crew and passed on the letters which were not marked with any names before going to find Hudson and Fair. At least he would get some reasonable conversation today that was not aimed at some form of tease.

The Mako reactor would take several years to be built and whilst it was a crappy job, Vincent knew he would just have to put up with it and hopefully get promoted to a position which was not meant for a younger generation. The only problem appeared to be that the younger generations were all set on leaving to join SOILDER or going to Midgar which was not going to be a good situation at all. "Hey Vincent!" Brea waved upon spotting him and grinned broadly, "Wondered who he was going to send out to help this afternoon"

"Well he had a choice of that lad who's sick once again or me, the resident lackey city-dweller" replied Vincent sarcastically before offering Brea a hand up, "Where's Hudson?"

"Off sorting out something else, possibly overtime I think but not to sure" replied Brea, dusting himself off, "Though why he wants to work here any longer than we do already is a mystery to me and the others"

Vincent shrugged, "Maybe he just wants some extra gil"

Brea laughed and clapped his friend roughly on the arm, "What's he going to use it for in this place? A young lad like that should be off in the big wide world, not stuck in this dump"

"Trust me the big wide world is not all that it's cracked up to be" Vincent sighed, trying to stop the memories – or Chaos from bringing up a long, drawn out whine about liking the city more than this – before they had a chance to show themselves in his brain.

Brea shook his head, "You only say that because you grew up there, when you're a country bumpkin like me the city is a great place to escape to. But with the money this job is paying I doubt we're ever going to get there"

Vincent shook his head in agreement. The wage was indeed poor, far lower than what he had expected it to be and it infuriated him no end. Especially when he remembered the amount he got paid as a Turk. "I still say I would rather be out here with the fresh air and practically no guards around, it's much better than being cooped up all the time"

_I remember when a certain someone used to have rather fond dreams of going back to the city. I can't believe you actually want to stay here _Chaos finally chose to whine, mainly because Vincent had been ignoring him for the last couple of days and he wanted to talk to the other.

Of course, Vincent went on ignoring him.

The Lunch Bell rang after what felt like an eternity and after having found Hudson moping by the Foreman's office, the three men sat down to share their lunch which consisted of a couple of pasties and a flask of weak coffee courtesy of Grace and Lucy. Their conversation ranged from the latest of the chocobo racing, to Zack and Sephiroth's recent mad antics and finally onto the subject of Hudson's desire to get overtime.

"Well…it's embarrassing" Hudson replied, rubbing the back of his neck, blond hair blowing in the wind which was whistling through the relatively quiet workplace.

Vincent smiled, "Let me guess, saving up for some girl you want to marry?"

"How the hell did you know that?" Hudson's ears had turned red with shame at being found out so easily.

Brea chuckled, "It's all the talk of the town. You two haven't exactly been quiet in your affections for one another of late so it's no big surprise to any of us. Though I would have thought you would have followed your brother to the city to get some extra Gil in your pocket for some such endeavour"

Hudson shook his head, "I'm never going to that hell hole unless there's no other option available to me"

Vincent had to frown at such an angry statement, and politely swallowed his chunk of pasty before asking, "Why?"

"Me Mam got a message to say that he had been caught in crossfire accidentally when the Shinra Troops were trying to stop a terrorist group but me sister says differently" Hudson ducked his head slightly to hide his eyes, "She saw the whole thing from her house. They grabbed him one afternoon and just dragged him to be interrogated for several hours before dropping him dead in the slums like he was just a piece of garbage"

"Bloody hell" Brea said shaking his head, "Why would they do such a thing?"

"I dunno, all I heard is that apparently they were rounding up all sorts of different people for the same thing" Hudson was shaking and a tear slipped down his face, "said they were trying to find an informer or something. The only thing that linked any of the poor sods were the fact that all the males were tall with black hair…I so wanted to go there and pummel them for doing such a thing but with Shelly coming back with her bairn I just couldn't bring myself to leave and run the risk"

Vincent was silent for a few long moments; if they had been in Midgar then a whole load of people would have been saved from such cruel treatment. That was yet another SIN he would have to atone for one day which was not a pleasant thought in the slightest. Before he could say anything though, the whistle went again and another afternoon's hard labour started up.

As he worked with Brea and Hudson, Vincent had to give into Chaos's demands to talk to him because it was the only way he knew how to deal with his own sense of guilt.

_Now you understand why I told you not to go to Midgar. Shinra are a bunch of dangerous fools who have only one thing on their mind, success. _

_I know that _Vincent thought back _it still doesn't make me feel any better_

_It's not supposed to. It's just the bare truth because there's not a chance in hell's name that I'm going to cover everything with rose tinted glasses_

_Are you ever going to shut up today? _Vincent enquired, already frustrated with this strain of conversation.

_Even if you attempt to ignore me I'm just going to keep talking until you actually listen and think about your position Vincent Valentine. How long do you think you can really keep this charade up? Someone's going to click eventually and then it'll be the end of your happy little family unit. _

_Need I remind you that this was your idea, Chaos?_

_What? Oh hell…_

_Hmm, now stop pestering me. I've got work to do. _

The hours ticked by slowly and it wasn't until well after dark that the men were finally allowed to go home. Vincent and Brea commented quietly together about the relief they both shared that tomorrow was the start of a long weekend due to a celebration coming up in the town.

"Well then, I'll see you sometime this week then" Brea waved, going up the steps to his house where he could clearly hear Grace singing one of her nonsense ditty's whilst cooking and either a sulking or none-present Zack.

Vincent nodded, "Yeah. See you"

Opening the door to his little house, Vincent immediately noticed that something was out of place and his instincts flared. Automatically he reached for his gun but then remembered that it was now kept in a box underneath their bed. "Lucy?" he called gently, walking into the house prepared to find some form of destruction.

_Now this is going to be fun _commented Chaos with a smug little tone to his voice.

Rounding the corner to what was the living room; Vincent spotted Lucy sitting in front of the fire with a lost expression on her face. Racing over, he lightly brushed a stray strand of fridge from her face and placed a light kiss on her forehead, "What's wrong? Lucrecia, what's happened?"

Seeming to come out of a trance, Lucy looked at her husband with a mixture of fear and anticipation. "Oh Vincent…" she said quietly.


	11. Sephiroth's Day

What If

What If

Disclaimer: think you know the routine by now, none of it's mine though I sometimes wish it was

Authors note: Somehow I can imagine Zack doing this for no apparent reason, if he is OOC then there are two reasons. One he's about five/six years old and another is that I have yet to sit through a walkthrough of CC so I don't know his personality that well, other than the fanfics of course lol. Oh and a prize if you can guess who the 'other boy' is that Seph refers to.

Sephiroth's Day

Not accustomed to the usual childhood hiding places, like the cupboard or under the bed, Sephiroth had done the only thing which made any sense to him at the time. Finding the darkest corner of the room, he had hid there, arms up around his head and a feeling of dread over his whole being. He didn't want the other little boy near him, even though he knew damn well that it wasn't the tormentor but it was still a bit of a shock to have someone there who was his size, possibly a bit younger and he had no clue how to deal with him.

Especially since the boy in question was loud, bouncy and had the attention span of a goldfish.

His name was Zack that much he had gathered from the conversation he had overheard between his mother and Grace but that still made him feel uneasy.

Sephiroth was also well aware of the fact that Zack was standing over him long before the other boy talked, "Hey what are you doing hiding in such a lame place like that?"

He wasn't going to answer, all he wanted was for the other to do whatever the hell he was going to do to him and then leave. That was the way it worked, the way that it had always worked and the way it was always going to work in the young child's mind.

Zack blinked and tilted his head to the side a few times in utter confusion as to why the other wasn't responding. Generally every kid in the whole of Gonaga would reply when he asked them a question, even if it was to tell him to shut the hell up as Angeal usually did when get got on his nerves.

Getting bored, Zack sighed, "You're no fun" he said and looked around the room for something to entertain himself with. Immediately his blue eyes fell on the chocobo doll and with a mad cap squee, the six-year-old immediately raced over to scoop the treasure up, "Aww man! I've been trying to get hold of this one forever! You're so lucky to already have it"

Sephiroth blinked and slightly moved his position to watch the other who was putting his chocobo back onto the bed before racing over to look at a bunch of pictures on the wall. "Wow, did you draw this yourself? They look fantastic…wish I could draw that well, mine usually come out looking like a bunch of random squiggles which my mum insists on putting on the fridge just to embarrass me completely. I'm sure she does it just so Angeal can pick on me"

Watching the other boy, Sephiroth couldn't even begin to comprehend the others actions and spent the next hour just sitting and watching whilst Zack made his way through everything that he owned. Sometimes it was just for a minuet or so, other times he would spend ages talking about a load of things that were no related and the silver haired boy found his head to be spinning.

And Zack was still talking. But had started doing squats for no apparent reasons.

"You really have to play it if you get half a chance to; it's such a fun game if totally mad. Then again you may want to get the sequel cause all the kids on school are playing it at the moment and it's the talk of the playground" Zack suddenly found himself cut off mid-rant as a hand covered his mouth.

"Please stop talking, you're giving me a headache" Sephiroth said quietly.

Zack's eyes lit up, "So you do talk! That's great. I'm Zack by the way, what's your name?"

Looking like a rabbit caught in headlights, the six-year-old looked a bit on the unsure side, "Sephiroth" he said quietly.

"Sep-ni-oth?" replied Zack, unable to pronounce such a complicated name.

"Seph-i-roth" Sephiroth pronounced to try his best to help but then remembered that this boy would probably beat him up pretty soon, just like the other one had done in the labs, and hid his head once again.

Zack rolled the word around a couple of times, trying to get the right sound and eventually deciding that it was too complicated. "Ah! Your name from now on is going to be Seph cause I can pronounce that"

"Eh?" Sephiroth asked, completely confused as to what the other was blabbering on about now.

"Seph, you're new name" Zack declared, a big grin on his face.

Sephiroth's shoulders drooped, "But I don't want a new name"

"Well you got one so nay!" Zack stuck his tongue out at the other and then grabbed his hand with the intention of dragging him outside to play with the other kids.

Immediately Sephiroth pulled out of his grasp and retreated as if to go back into his corner, "Don't!" he said, tears creeping into his eyes.

Zack stared at him in total confusion, "What? Hey what's wrong?" his tone was lighter, more confused than angry.

Sephiroth just shook his head, "Please don't hurt me" tears were falling down his cheeks.

Stunned into momentary silence, Zack stared at the other with total confusion. Where on Gaia had he gotten the idea that he was going to hurt him? All Zack had done was take hold of his hand and from his experiences with Lucy and Vincent, the black haired boy knew that they were not the types to go hitting kids. True his Mam hit him but only when he had been especially naughty and it was a last resort in most chases.

Taking a step closer, he knelt down on his haunches to try and get a look at Sephiroth's face, "Why would I hurt you?" he asked, trying to piece together everything.

"Cause the other boy did" said Sephiroth, knowing that he was being a complete and utter fool but he just didn't know how else to respond.

"What other boy?" Zack asked, unaware of anyone else who had actually talked to the white haired kid in the window as he was referred to at the moment. Within a week all of the local kids would be calling him Seph, a prospect which would have annoyed the young Sephiroth if he had known such a fate awaited him.

Fidgeting with his hands, Sephiroth sat down on the floor and shook his head, "I don't want to talk about him"

Zack sighed and stood up, "But talking helps…well usually it does. My Mam always says it's the best medicine but there again she always gives me that icky tasting stuff that sticks to the back of my throat" he shook his head and headed to the bed to grab hold of the chocobo toy once again, "But I'm not going to hurt you in the slightest. Wouldn't be a good thing to do that to a friend would it now?"

Sephiroth's head shot up, "Friend?"

"Yeah, you're my friend now whether you like it or not" Zack grinned, picking up the Chocobo, "And Choco agrees with me wholeheartedly"

"He's not called Choco" Sephiroth said, reaching to take the toy away from Zack only to find that it was hoisted up into the air and out of his reach, "Hey!"

Zack grinned, "What's his name?"

"Not telling!"

"Come on! If it's not Choco what is it?" Zack said backing up a little.

Sephiroth stood up, he easily towered over the boy and tried to snatch the toy back but Zack was a little quicker and ducked away easily. "Tell me his name and I'll give him back"

"No!" said Sephiroth, trying unsuccessfully to catch Zack once again and completely failing.

The mad game of chase ended roughly half-an-hour later when Sephiroth tackled into the side of Zack and wrenched the very much squished cuddly toy from the others grip. "Ha! You don't get to find out now!" he giggled only to find himself wrestled to the floor by the overzealous boy and pretty quickly the toy was forgotten as they tussled about.

"Zackary Fair!" Grace chided, pulling the laughing ball up off the floor by the scruff of his neck, "What the hell do you think you are doing?"

"Playing with Seph!" Zack practically yelled, trying to wriggle out of his mothers grasp but completely failing to do so.

"You two have made more noise and a herd of Oliphant's for the past half-hour" Grace scolded as Sephiroth pushed himself upright and tried to get rid of the dust bunnies which had attached themselves to his clothes and hair, "It's time to go home Zack"

"But Mum!" Zack whined, "I wanna play some more!"

Grace wouldn't hear of it and quickly began frog-marching Zack down the stairs, "You can come over and play with Sephiroth tomorrow" she said, completely ignoring her son's complaints of the new nickname, "But you're fathers due home in the next five minuets and I've yet to get supper started. Now come on, stop fussing. Say goodbye to Sephiroth"

"Bye bye Seph" Zack shouted, still wriggling in an attempt to get away from his mother, "I'll come and see you tomorrow okay?"

Sephiroth nodded, "Okay" he smiled, unaware that there were still a couple of dust bunnies attached firmly to his hair and that a smile was plastered all over his face. He never knew that play fighting could be so fun and hadn't even registered the fact that he had been playing properly for the first time.

Grace and Zack left quickly, after a couple of shouted goodbyes and promises to be over tomorrow. Sephiroth ran quickly back up to his room to watch Zack get dragged complaining into his house before tidying up everything and getting rid of the remaining dust bunnies.

Hearing his father coming in, Sephiroth padded back down the stairs to see his parents and tell them of the great adventure he had had today. The only problem was when he got there; both of them were in a sullen silence, staring at the flames of the fire with expressions that immediately told the young boy that something was up.

"Mummy what's wrong?" he asked, taking a step forward.

Authors note: Cliff-hanger though Lucy already knows, not sure how they're going to react yet but it should be fun all the same. Please R&R and I'll see you all soon with another update.


	12. Sinking In

What If

Disclaimer: Don't own FFVII at all, it all belongs to Square Enix.

Authors note: Gah sorry I've been so long in updating this, but I had a load of uni work to do and then I went down to visit uni friends and other stuff so I barely had any computer access time in which I could sit and write stuff. And to top things off I got a cold as well which turned itself into Laryngitis (if that's spelt right) so that's knocked me back a little. But I'm in the mood to write so I'm doing so. Hence why I've given Chaos the same thing cause I want someone else to have it as well.

Anyway, here's the story.

Sinking In

It was almost a week before Vincent managed to wrangle up enough confidence to speak to Chaos about their current situation. It wasn't that he feared the demon who resided within his mind; he was utterly terrified of him. Plus the situation was going to be a delicate one to try and deal with. After all, technically this wasn't possible to happen in the slightest and whilst Lucy had belief in all of the scientific things which could have happened during their time in the Mansion, Vincent wasn't so inclined to do so. Plus this situation could lead to more troubles for them, that much the small family had agreed on but it was tricky to even begin plotting what they were going to do.

Thankfully Grace was always on hand to help out as much as she could around the house and get things prepared for the new arrival and if truth be told, young Sephiroth appeared to be highly excited over the idea of having a younger sibling. Though he professed soundly that he wanted it to be a girl more than a boy because then he wouldn't have to give him second hand stuff. It was a strange but rather touching thought that the six-year-old wanted to give the baby new things or as new as could be made to look. When questioned one time, he had brushed it off as a big brother thing but the ex-Turk had a better idea of what it would be.

Hojo wasn't exactly the most cleanest of people to begin with and considering the fact that the child had never even had a battered toy to play with during his younger years, the desire to have someone to spoil was definitely somewhere high on Sephiroth's list of things to do. Especially as it gave him a chance to dictate what they were going to do at least one in four afternoons with Zack. Granted the activity generally only lasted about an hour before the younger boy was complaining but at least Seph was starting to have a lot more fun these days.

Shaking his head to clear the thoughts which were lingering about his son, Vincent took a deep breath, made sure that no one was going to bother him for the next couple of hours and leaned back against a wall, closed his eyes and summoned up the demon in his mind.

"Took you bloody long enough Valentine!" Chaos shouted almost instantly, glaring at his human counterpart with all the venom that he could muster.

Raising an eyebrow in questioning, Vincent took a few seconds to look the other over. Normally the demon appeared as a figure that towered over him, demonic red eyes glowing with their own power and wings pressed out to give a clear warning that he was powerful, determined and in charge of the situation. However right now, the bringer of death looked more like some extremely horrible rag-doll that had been pulled out from underneath a disused bed. It was a strange feeling indeed and he didn't exactly know how to react at first but then just sighed, "What did you really expect? This is not a subject I thought I would ever have to breach with you"

Chaos rolled his eyes, "The way you two acted? I was just waiting for it to happen. You both worse than a pair of rabbits in the middle of the mating season!"

"Do you have to be so course?" Vincent asked, his sarcasm just overtaking his sensibility for a few seconds before he quickly countered with a question to hopefully avoid being ripped apart, "Besides that's not why I'm here. What's going to happen?"

Chaos shuddered, tugging a cloak around his shoulders and wanting to seriously rip someone's head off. That was one of the problems of being a host to someone; you got all the stuff that they were supposed to get. Take for example a human made technically immortal but with zero natural resistance to colds. Chaos had picked up five since they had left but had barley complained about them because there was nothing that Vincent could do. This latest one though was proving to be an absolute sod and if it hadn't have been infecting the great demon then it would have crippled the human easily. Letting out a cough which sounded rustier that Hellmaskers chainsaw, Chaos tried to composed himself. "To be truthful I don't know…nothing majority to worry about but you know how twisted fate can be" he said, shaking his head in an attempt to focus better.

Vincent sighed heavily, "Will the child be a demon?"

"Can't see any particular reason as to why it would be," muttered Chaos, blowing his nose with a well used tissue, "But at the same time I can't exactly see into your wife without causing a hell of a lot of pain"

"So you're telling me to wait then? Just see what occurs?" asked Vincent, feeling a mixture of angered and down right terrified at such a prospect.

Chaos nodded, rubbing his eyes roughly, "Like any other first time parent in the world you'll have to do this. Lucy will probably be a little more prepared…" he lowered his fingers to look pathetically apologetic towards the man, the subject of Sephiroth's birth and confinement was rarely breached on either side out of sensibilities, "but it's a waiting game I'm afraid we are…what the hell are you doing here?"

Vincent stared at the older demon in shock but realised that he wasn't paying attention to their little conversation. Another figure had appeared one that Vincent didn't recognise in the slightest and a feeling of dread passed over him. Unlike Chaos, this demon looked more like how a demon should look. His wings were dark feathers, mattered together by gods knows what and his body was hunched in such a way it was possible to believe that at one time he had stood tall and proud but was now reduced to walking like an old hermit. What was most striking was the fact that parts of its body and face were grafted with metal sheets that shimmered in the half-light.

Only the electric blue eyes stood out to display any emotion and right now they gave off an impression of undisguised glee. But it was the sort that a bully would have when he found a worthwhile victim. On impulse Vincent reached for Cerberus but found to his horror that it wasn't by his side. Then he remembered that he was inside his own mind so it would be a little on the stupid side for him to have such a thing. One of the many curses of being human with a demon inside.

The figure grinned, "I just came to congratulate you, dear brother" the voice was sly, full of malice and hatred as well as finely crafted cunning which would have served any worthwhile villain several thousand points in the 'reasons to hate' lists, "On such a fine achievement"

"What are you dribbling about you worthless scumbag?" Chaos asked, spoiling the atmosphere by sneezing at that particular moment.

Nero chuckled long and low before appearing right by Vincent's side and wrapping long fingers around the man's shoulders, "You've provided us with not only an access point into the human realm through you're pathetic antics in the caves above Nelibehiem but also a body…"

Vincent grabbed the demon by the throat and somehow managed to haul him over his shoulders to land with a rather un-threatening 'ouch' sound on the ground, "You come anywhere near that child and I'll rip you apart limb by limb if I have to"

Chaos walked over to Nero, "And I'll help him. Now tell me, little _brother_" the emphasis on the final word could have made the bravest man in the world cower before the demon, "why are you so obsessed with this incident?"

"He's bothered you before?" Vincent asked, hardly taking his eyes off the new creature that was proceeding to laugh like some insane man.

Chaos nodded, "Unfortunately yes…Omega's been using him as a messenger boy I believe"

With a snarl, Nero leapt up and knocked Vincent to one side before taking a swipe at Chaos, "You have no idea of what is going on, what you've created by giving in to such a fickle thing as human emotions. The potential power…" Nero was forced to let out another yell as Galian came running in and pounced with all his might onto the monster.

Chaos grinned, "I warned you what would happen should you disturb me again" the demon glanced sideways to ensure that Vincent was being helped up and out of his confrontation. He needed answers just as much as Chaos did but it would be a dangerous situation to keep the human here. "But you are going to prove to be quite useful right now, if not some form of entertainment for me"

Nero just laughed again, "You're a fool, dear brother. You don't have enough sense left to even use that head of yours anymore. Omega will be disappointed indeed"

Suddenly a pool of darkness, one that outshone the darkness inside Vincent's mind, opened up around the laughing demon and before Chaos or Galian could grab him, Nero disappeared down into it.

Vincent let out a growl, "What the hell did he mean by that?"

Chaos sighed, "I do not know in the slightest…go back to your wife and child Vincent. I shall look further into this and see what I can come up with"

Before Vincent could protest, the greater demon snapped his fingers and with a jolt Vincent awoke to find himself back in his own little home with a blanket draped loosely over his body. He smiled slightly and headed to check on his family. Sometimes it was tricky dealing with relative dimensions inside your own head, but at least it had only been a couple of hours that had passed. Walking upstairs, his first port of call was to check on Sephiroth and a slight chuckle escaped him when he discovered the boy fast asleep on the floor, Zack by his side, with a couple of game controllers falling loosely out of their grips. Moving as quickly as he could, Vincent scooped up both boys before gently tucking them up.

Heading to leave the room, he spotted two things which made him smile more than he had done so over the last few days. The first was a calendar which was marked with red pen indicating Sephiroth's birthday of November the fifth and a Halloween party at Zack's. The second was a list of names which the boys had come up with for the baby, along with a series of other things which Vincent couldn't make out in the light. It was Sephiroth's writing obviously, as it flowed neatly and joined up whereas Zack's looked like some form of little ABC book where the spider had walked all over the writing.

Deciding to leave it where it was for the time being, Vincent quietly shut the door and headed next door to find Lucy still awake with a sad sort of smile on her face. "Well?"

"We have to wait" Vincent said quietly, arranging the blanket onto the bed before walking over to his wife and gently kissing her on the cheek, "He's going to look into things though but he can't see anything in particular at the moment"

Lucy sighed and pulled him into a hug, "If waitings all we got then that's fine with me…just as long as we get a healthy child out of everything then I'll be happy"

"Me to"


	13. Hide and Seek

What If

Disclaimer: you know the routine well enough by now but need to add I don't own Kingdom Hearts either

Authors note: No I'm not crossing Kingdom Hearts and FFVII over, I'm just borrowing three of the characters as I don't want to have to many original characters running around and confusing me. I've changed their relationship a bit to make it fit and they'll be around for as long as I need them.

Hide and Seek

"Oh come on! I swear you're not going to have any problems" Zack grinned widely, dragging Sephiroth out of the door on an unusually sunny day in the middle of autumn, "Have I ever led you astray before?"

Sephiroth bit back the comment about the numerous times that Zack had done so, the most recent of which had been yesterday when he had insisted on helping with the laundry. It had resulted in the wash house being filled to the brim with bubbles and the pair of them soaked to the bone. That was before their parents had found them and Sephiroth was still highly suspicious of the fact that they hadn't been punished for such a thing. Still getting covered in bubbles was a far less daunting task than getting dragged along a dusty road to meet a bunch of Zack's wacky mates. He was still uneasy around other children, even though he had readily accepted Zack there was no real telling on how Seph would react to the others.

Especially due to the fact that it was not his choice to do so.

"You'll be fine. The others have really wanted to meet you for some time but didn't want to come into the house cause it would just get completely mad and way to noisy" Zack continued on, dodging past groups of adults lingering for the market trade to come in, "So I said that we would meet in the park where it's nice and open. It's not much further Seph" the boy didn't even notice the fact that Sephiroth tried to correct the pronunciation of his name, "and we can spend all day out here"

"But Zack" the silver-haired boy finally managed to cut into the continuous stream of words that defined Zack's outlook on life, "what if the other kids are mean?"

Zack let out a chuckle, "Those three? They ain't got a mean bone in their body…well maybe Riku at times but that's just cause he's always trying to be older than everyone else. It's really annoying but you'll probably get along with him"

Sephiroth had the distinct feeling that he wanted to turn around right then and go home, back to his little room where it would be quiet. Still a little part of his brain was telling him that he had nothing to fear, this would be a fun adventure to have and plus, what sort of big brother would he be if he didn't at least try to make friends. Taking a deep breath, he fell into step with Zack and wrenched his arm free, "You don't have to drag me around like some doll you know"

"Yes I do!" Zack grinned, "cause otherwise you would never leave the house"

The next minuet passed by with little conversation, Zack shielding his eyes from the sun whilst Sephiroth kept up with the boy and looked around for any signs of trouble. There was no need to be paranoid, he knew that much, but they were still new to the place and who knew what people were saying behind his back.

There was a blur of white and brown and suddenly Zack was sprawled out onto the floor. Sephiroth stepped back, highly alarmed by such actions but he needn't have feared. "Ha got you at long last Fair!" said the boy currently sitting on Zack's back who had a clump of brown hair so spiked that it rivalled the others attempts completely.

Zack rolled to try and dislodge the other, "Only cause you cheated Sora!" he said before throwing himself upright and immediately attacking the other. Sephiroth recognised the play fight immediately, having been a target of Zack on more than one occasion but stepped back away from it to avoid getting hurt.

"Hey Sora! Stop fighting in the middle of the street will you!" came another voice and Sephiroth turned to see another boy running towards them with white hair and green eyes. A younger girl followed in his wake, carefully carrying some ice lollys. Sephiroth was surprised to see someone else with similar coloured hair but didn't comment for the time being. The boy stuck his hands into the struggling pair and forced them apart with a growl, only to have both of them retaliate and force him to the floor as well.

Sephiroth stepped further back and found to his great surprise that he was offered one of the lollies by the girl, "Here, you better take one before they all melt. This could take a while"

"Thank you" he said, quietly taking the blue ice cream and taking an experimental lick of it.

The girl grinned, her short brown hair framing her face nicely, "I'm Kairi, and you must be Seph right?"

Immediately the boy sighed, "It's Sephiroth actually" he said quietly, taking a bite out of the ice cream. Evidently Zack's shortened version of his name had gotten out and now there would be no escape. He was ready to strangle the other for such a thing but considering the fact that Sora and the other boy seemed to be doing a pretty good job of it he could wait a little longer. Plus the ice cream was too good to waste.

Kairi just laughed, shaking her head, "Oh he's done that to you as well? Zack shortens everyone's names or gives them random nicknames cause he's hopeless otherwise. At least he didn't give you something crazy sounding"

"Hey, it's not crazy sounding!" Zack managed to shout, disentangling himself from the other two just long enough to grab one of the ice creams before he charged off again, "you just don't like it"

"Nor would you" Kairi yelled after the figure but was stopped from going after him when Sora yelled, "Come back here Fair!" and took off after the boy with speed that shouldn't have been possible at all, "I'm not finished with you yet!"

"Have to catch me first!" came a much more distant sound of laughter from Zack and the older boy pushed himself up with a chuckle.

Dusting himself down, he shook his head and took one of the ice creams, "I'm not chasing after those two today. Thanks Kairi"

Sephiroth looked at Kairi and blinked, "What nickname did he give you?"

"You don't want to know. It's his way of being nasty" Kairi said, passing the two remaining ice creams to her older brother, "Oh this is Riku by the way and the other one was Sora"

Riku grinned, "Ah you must be the new kid in town. You've caused quite a stir with the other kids" he said lightly, shaking the boys hand before sighing at some distant yelling, "I swear you lot are going to be the death of me one day."

He set off down the path and the other two followed on instinct, still munching on their ice creams as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening. Actually now that Sephiroth reflected on it, nothing was. This was how he had presumed normal children to be in those cold dark days in the labs when he had no one to play with. Maybe it wasn't so bad after all.

"What you grinning at?" Kairi asked, spotting a tell-tail grin on the others face.

Sephiroth hid his face as best as he could manage, "Nothing much" he said, feeling hotly embarrassed indeed.

The rest of the afternoon was spent at the park, once they had managed to gather Sora and Zack from their various battles around the square. It transpired that the three were indeed brothers and sister, having travelled from Midgar because the price of living there was beyond their grandparent's means and none of them had any regrets for leaving the city behind them. Riku seemed to be the happiest of the small group, telling Sephiroth of the massive machines that pumped constantly day and night as well as the lack of sunshine there.

Eventually however, the talk switched to a heated argument over what to play and as always happens with children; the argument was pretty long and ended back right where it had started. It had been Zack, who'd suggested a game of hide and seek first, with Kairi agreeing but Sora and Riku didn't want to play that sort of game because it was too easy. Sephiroth barely said a word until it was decided since he was the new kid that he should be the one to call the vote.

Watching the four pairs of eyes staring at him, Sephiroth had wanted to curl up in the nearest corner and be left alone. Looking down at the ground he shook his head, "I don't know"

"Don't know?" a confused frown crossed Sora's face, "What do you mean by that?"

Zack blinked as if he had only just remembered one crucial fact, "Oh yeah…you won't have played it before will you?"

The other three stared at him in amazement. They couldn't believe what they were hearing in the slightest and it made no real sense to them. It was Riku who spoke up first though it was rather a foolish statement to make, "You've never played Hide and Seek before?"

Sephiroth shook his head, "No…"

Zack sighed, "Seph isn't like us. I don't know the details or anything but he wasn't allowed to play at all, I should have said something sooner"

"Not allowed to play? That's pretty harsh!" Sora said hotly, obviously planning to get back at Seph's parents when he got the first chance.

Kairi just silently wrapped her arms around Sephiroth's frame and hugged him lightly. For once Sephiroth didn't jump away like a scaled cat; instead he just kept his head down to wait and see.

Riku sighed, "That does count for a lot, I suppose"

"Don't go doing anything to Vincent or Lucy, Sora!" Zack warned, eyes hardening, "It wasn't their fault in the slightest. Something bad happened that caused them to be split up for a while, hence why they're all a bit different from us normal folks"

"Normal? You?" asked Sephiroth, raising his head enough to glare at Zack and was surprised that the others actually laughed at the comment.

"Hey that was mean man" Zack said, grinning like an idiot anyway before turning to Kairi, "Why don't you teach him the rules of the game and we can play it for a bit. See if it's something he'll like or not"

The next four hours were spent explaining the rules and playing hide and seek. It was well after sunset before the children even got tired of playing it and by the end of their random shenanigan's they were covered in dust, grime and scuff marks from various battles which had occurred. They walked back towards home, Sephiroth amazed that no one was out searching for them in the slightest, tired but extremely happy.

Riku had Kairi over his back and a firm grip on Sora's wrist to ensure he didn't run off whilst Zack just continued to move about like some hyperactive firefly in the night time air. Sephiroth chuckled and caught the back of the others shirt to stop him falling over once again, "You're mum's going to have a field day with the state you've got yourself into"

"Not as much as yours buddy" grinned Zack in reply, "You're covered in half the fish pond!"

"Due to you pushing him in" said Riku, good naturedly before waving to a couple of figures up ahead, "Anyway I've got to get these two in so I'll catch you both tomorrow okay?"

"Sure" said Zack, waving and tugging Sephiroth along the road to get to their houses. Sephiroth was a little reluctant to go at first, he had found joy in play today and that was the best thing he could have ever asked for. But then the rancid smell of the pond caught his nostrils and he knew that it was over for today.

He would have to find some way to get back at his friend for that little prank; Zack was definitely going to pay.


	14. Planning

What If

Disclaimer: You should know well enough by now

Authors note: I feel like a right idiot for not uploading sooner but it's been a hell of a long ride with my life at the moment and I've only just found some quality time to write and sort out stuff. Ignore my previous author notes, they were written before today (Nov 1st) which shows just how much hassle I've had in getting sorted out. Anyway hope you read and please review cause my muse is starting to wain a little and I need a good old prod occasionally.

Planning

Making his way back home from the long grind that was now his working life, Vincent let out a sigh and stared up at the clouds with an unnaturally worried expression. Today was the day he had been dreading and for half-a second he had desperately wanted something to happen at work to keep him there but his luck was never that good and after the last time he had worked night shift on the reactor there was virtually no chance that he would ever do so again. He sighed, shaking his head before dragging his feet along the ground. All of their carefully laid plans, all the time spent moving and getting lost, the changes in appearance and accent soon it would all amount to nothing. He didn't want this to be the end of such a long journey, one that had seen all three of them through many different paths. He wanted life to remain like this, quiet, sensible and organised…actually now that he really thought about it, his life was nothing like that at all.

Especially since Sephiroth had started having his gang of mates around, not that Vincent minded in the slightest of course but it was a tad on the worrying side when you walked in to your house, heard screams and races upstairs expecting to find the worse thing imaginable, only to discover that it was a pile of kids fighting over something or rigging a trap to either trip you up, cover you in flower or dump a bucket of water over your head. All three had happened consecutively the other night and Vincent had not been best pleased with the results at first. But after a firm wack of a wooden ruler across his knuckles from his wife, Vincent had begun to wish that he could wear the gauntlet again.

Blinking at the smile he found on his face for such thoughts, the ex-gunslinger shook his head and headed home. There was no point in worrying over what was going to happen; they had put it off as long as could be done and now there was no other choice. Going back to Midgar was an option that neither wanted but if they wished to see their second child born without complications then they would have to go. Letting out another sigh, he paused again for no discernable reason and stared around the square.

There wasn't much going on at the moment, there never was at this time of night but he had heard rumours that strange people traded at times like this. Some of the elders said that if troubles were brewing in your mind then head to the square at the fall of darkness and they'll be answered. It was a load of poppycock, Vincent knew that but tonight he would have been willing to believe in anything. Still looking around the traders that were there, it was clear that no one was going to be able to help the pair of them hide in the big city.

Turning to go, he walked into someone and stumbled through an apology before he got half a look at the figure. It was a small woman, dressed in fine silks and her head was covered with a veil that only betrayed the glow of her light brown eyes. The smell of incense gave her away clearly and Vincent wasn't entirely sure what to do. He had expressively forbidden Sephiroth to trade with any Wutainese in the market, not because he didn't trust them or their goods but more for the fact that he was terrified that the boy would be snatched away. There were rumours of travellers who dressed as Wutan's to lure children into a false sense of security and then snatched them to be slaves all around the world. "I am sorry" he said, stepping back to allow the woman to step past him.

Instead her eyes smiled at him, "You are lost traveller, on a road of stars that you cannot see the true meaning of yet" she said mystically.

Vincent glared, he was not the type to bother with the mythic or stars or anything of that sort and dually was not impressed at all. "Sure lady…whatever" he said as politely as could be managed before turning to get home.

"You want to go to the big city but are afraid of being caught right?" she said with a giggle which caused Vincent to hurriedly turn around with a threatening stare but she only continued to smile, "Do not worry, I read it in your eyes more than anything. Here, take this…it shall bring you good fortune"

She passed Vincent a glowing lime coloured materia and the next thing the gunslinger knew he was alone in the square. Blinking his red eyes, he looked around carefully before heading off home without a thought as to what had just happened. As it transpired later, the materia was so rare that its effect wasn't easy to pin-point until they happened to try it randomly.

Its name was disguise and it did exactly that.

It was the perfect thing for getting them to Midgar and back safely.


	15. Looking Back

**What If**

Disclaimer: Don't own FFVII, it belongs to Squaresoft/Enix and I'm not making any money from this at all.

Authors note: Well here's another chapter and one major time jump going on in this one, I'll warn you all now. My reason for doing this? It was taking to long to get to where I wanted and plus there's only so much fluff I could write with Chibi Sephiroth (even though I loved doing all the bits) that wasn't cliché so I decided to shoot things forward. Plus it turned out a whole lot longer than what I expected which makes me all the more happier. Anyway tell me what you think and if you like the change in direction here.

**Looking Back**

"Sev!" a voice yelled up through the floorboards, "Will you get your lazy arse out of bed already!"

Groaning at the impromptu awakening, Sephiroth turned over and blinked his green eyes lazily at the wall, trying to recall the really nice dream he was having. It had been about something interesting, something very important to him but typically before any of the good bits could lodge themselves in the twenty-year-olds mind, the voice had woken him up and dispelled them away. He sighed, trying to go back to sleep and back to the dreams that were for his eyes only.

That was until a pillow hit him in the face.

"Gah! What?" he managed to moan, turning over to lie on this front, stupidity exposing his back to whoever it was that was trying to wake him, "Just five more minuets"

"Ani-ge!" the voice said again, sounding more annoyed than it had previously done and also allowing Sephiroth's half-awake mind to register that it was Eisa, "If you're not up in the next five seconds I'm going to let Zack come up here and get him to wake you up"

The effect was instantaneous, as it always was. Sephiroth was up and out of bed within a blink of an eye, brushing past his little sister and into the bathroom before firmly locking it to avoid one of Zack's horrid wake up calls. They ranged from the simple cold water on the face to a rather nasty one involving toast, marmalade and Jinxi the pet dog. Eisa chuckled, shaking her hair so much that her jet black hair clipped her eyes as it moved. The threat had worked so many times and definitely didn't loose it's appeal, she just hoped that Sephiroth was just at that stage of awake where he wouldn't notice the small fact that his best friend – or pain in the arse as he had come to call him on many a frequent occasion recently – wasn't actually at the house at the moment.

Scooping up some of the clothes and bed sheets, Eisa wondered just how much her big brother would kill her for using the threat again but let the thought slide as there was just too much to do today for such crazy thoughts to disturb the pair. For one thing the house had be completely cleaned as their parents were coming back today and Sephiroth needed to do something with the chocobo chicks before they decided that the house was a much better place to live than the shed where he currently kept them.

Heading to go downstairs, she wrapped on the bathroom door, "You got a change of clothes, Sev?"

"Yes!" came a reply that was half-veiled in water and clearly displayed slight annoyance at having been woken up. Not that the silver haired man could have complained of course, if he had slept in any later it would have been a mad rush to get everything done just sometimes he wished it weren't. Staring at himself in the mirror, the once shy and quiet child wondered faintly about where all the time had gone, how quickly everything had passed. He could still recall the days when Zack would terrorise him at Halloween, the birthday party where he had gotten hyper on cherry aid and spent the rest of the day bouncing around the room like a maniac, going through the horrid tests at school, raising his first chocobo, being taught to fire a gun by his father, managing to explode the toaster (though that one was still a total mystery as to how it had occurred), his first kiss – which Zack was never finding out about – watching Riku and Angeal leave to go to the big city to make their money and of course Eisa, his little sister, coming into his life.

It was still a very strange feeling, being a big brother. Having to watch someone grow up, constantly worrying what would happen to them, who they were with, what they were doing and arguing with them about it all of the time. Sephiroth caught himself, shaking his head and smiling. They didn't really argue, had the occasional spat like all brothers and sisters did but there was an understanding between the pair of them. Like they both knew that the world was a lot bigger place than them and if one incident had occurred differently then the world would be in a totally different state. Frowning as he splashed water onto his face, Sephiroth had to admit that was morbid thinking but it wasn't the first time those sort of thoughts had crept into his head.

And he wasn't the only one to think of them either. Vincent certainly seemed to be aware of an inner voice in both of his children, something that clearly worried him but was powerless to do anything about.

Eisa had only had the guts to ask him about this worry once before and judging the echoing silence she got in return, Sephiroth had guessed correctly that it was not a subject to ever be breeched in the household again.

Looking again into the mirror, Sephiroth had to question what would have happened if his father hadn't rescued them that evening. Would he be the person he was now? Would he be as he suspected for some time, a pawn for Shin-Ra Electrical Company and off fighting in some war somewhere with no idea of who he truly was? Would Vincent be in the state he was in now, lying in a bed with a piece of metal sticking out of his arm and desperately fighting for life whilst his beloved Lucy watched from his bedside like she had always done?

"Stop thinking like that" Sephiroth scolded himself, "They're fine. They'll be back in a day or two"

Absently continued the rest of his morning routine and pulled on a pair of plain black trousers. Before he could pull on a grey shirt though, hot fiery pain ran through his shoulders and down both arms to his elbows. On instinct he froze up, bracing himself against the sink and feeling the horrid sensation that something was trying to rip through his skin and be freed. Closing his eyes tight against the pain, something stirred, like a quiet little voice inside his head which only he could hear but the words were always lost. The pain always came when he was depressed, worried or upset over something. Always a reminder of the cruel fate that Hojo had played to him when he was young. But there was nothing that could very be done about it, no amount of cure materia, healing spells or even basic medical treatment could rid him of the pain.

Nor the curious black bruises like marks that seemed to grow with every passing encounter.

A frantic banging at the door alerted him to the fact that he had probably been yelling with the pain once again and very slowly he pried his grip away from the porcelain under his hands and unlocked the door. Immediately he felt the warmth of his sister's arms, guiding him silently back to the bedroom and setting him down as if this was mere routine. To them it was, neither parent knew of the strange alignment that harassed both their bodies because they did not want them to fear for their lives.

Sephiroth watched, dully aware of the pain that was still coursing through him, as Eisa moved quickly to gather the first aid box which was hidden away under the floorboards and set about work on the bruises. He didn't need to see her expression to know that something was different this time, "What is it?" he asked, not expecting to get a response.

The thirteen-year-old sighed, shaking her head, "It's gotten bigger…all the way down you're back" she emphasised her point by tracing the outline down Sephiroth's spine with the pale fingers, red eyes brimming with tears. Instinctively he leaned back, allowing her to wrap her arms around his frame and to allow the trickles to fall. He hated to see her worried over this, all of his life he had set to protecting her from the harsh hands that fate could deal and yet here she was, trying to stop something that she had no knowledge about.

"Hey, Phaethon" he said quietly, using his own personal nickname for Eisa, "No tears, we agreed right?"

It was an ironic nickname, Sephiroth always reflected as he had found it whilst in school one day reading up on ancient mythologies. Phaethon's name had come up and being rather young and naïve at the time, the description had matched Eisa down to the ground. Though how an eight year old boy believed his baby sister was a horse who pulled the chariot that guided the sun around the world was a total mystery to everyone, including Sephiroth, it had stuck for those moments when there was no one else around.

Sniffing back the tears, Eisa nodded and wiped her eyes, "I know…it's just…" she sighed, shaking her head once again before setting about with the task of applying cooling cream to the affected areas, "it's getting worse and I don't know what to do anymore"

He knew that tone all to well, "We can't Eisa"

"But!" she started before letting out a vicious sounding cough that had Sephiroth turning around fast to catch her shaking shoulders. For a few seconds there was silence and then slowly Eisa raised her red eyes to his green ones, so similar to his fathers yet blended slightly purple due to their mother's influence, and he knew what she wanted.

"We've got to" she said, sadly extending her hand to show the splatters of blood on it.

He closed his eyes, feeling guilty for causing his sister so much pain even though he had no idea as to what was happening himself. "When they get back" he vowed, pulling her in close, a sensation of heat burning through the hand-me-down tunic as their bodies connected, "I promise. When they get back"

Sephiroth could only hope that their parents did get back within the next couple of days or who knew what Grace would find when she came to check on them.

For a few long minuets they were quiet like this, glad to be in each others embrace but the cawing of a local cockerel and the distinct chirp of the chocobo chicks seemed to break the spell on the pair. Within a couple of minuets, Eisa had the bruise bound up and was heading downstairs to make breakfast as if nothing had happened in the world.

Sephiroth followed shortly afterwards, stretching his arms before waving to his sister as he headed out into the wakening village to pick up the scraps which he used to feed his growing brood of chocobo chicks. He had no real idea of how come he was so good with the little creatures but there was no way that he was going to loose out on an opportunity to get some real money coming home. True most of the boys left to go to Midgar and earn a wage there, or else attempt to join SOLIDER to earn money for their families but he had been expressively forbidden to venture that way and in all honesty Sephiroth did not want to go either.

He could still clearly remember the other boy from those labs and knew for a fact that he was now one of the best SOLIDER'S in the world. There was no way he was going to go up against one of those. So the only other options easily available were either working at the Gold Saucer or the Chocobo Farm. Sephiroth had naturally gone to the farm, always remembering his first encounter with the chocobo's there and still in possession of the summon materia that he had gained. As well as the chocobo plushi which amazingly he still hadn't told the name of to Zack, it was a fun game to play.

Actually now that he thought about it, there wasn't sight nor sound of the annoying rascal anywhere near the house which probably meant that Eisa had not been serious in her attempt to get him up. He chuckled, wondering just how many more times she was going to get him with that particular one and gathered up the scraps before heading back to the shed.

There was already a battle going on and they hadn't even been awake for an hour yet, but Sephiroth simply rolled his eyes and set about dealing with the chicks. Normally Sephiroth would share the shed with the chicks so that they could get more used to him as a trainer for the races, but he had been sent home with them to look after his sister upon learning the fact that Vincent had needed urgent medical treatment. Something had occurred at the Mako Reactor but neither knew the full situation and his parents had gone to Midgar for the better medical facilities.

Sephiroth could only hope that it was not the start of something going horribly wrong with the monstrosity.

Feeding the chicks, the solider that never was, let his mind wander over various different things and wondered just when he had started thinking this much. Maybe it was just because he was worried about his parents and this town, or maybe he wanted something different from life. He sighed, running his hand over the head of one of the bigger chocobo's who he had named Monty, and tried to clear his head but found it only made him think more.

Hearing the click of the door latch, Sephiroth guessed that Zack had come to get his morning's second helping of breakfast and headed in to try and get something for himself. "Morning Zack" he said cheerfully, grabbing the first glass that came to hand and pouring himself some milk out of habit.

He was surprised when the aforementioned hardly seemed to react in the slightest, instead staring at the table as if his life depended on it. Looking to Eisa, Sephiroth inclined his head in question and she shrugged in return before going back to making breakfast.

"What's wrong? You're wetter than a wet Tuesday" he attempted to jilter Zack into talking with a bit of dry humour, "And it's not very becoming of you in the slightest"

"My papers came through" said Zack, straight to the point, "I leave tomorrow"

The Valentines stared at Zack in total shock. They both knew that he had applied to go to Midgar and join the Shin-Ra programme, against most people's wishes, but for everything to go through so quickly was a shock indeed.

Amazingly Eisa found her voice first, "Where will you be stationed?"

Zack shook his head, "I dunno yet. Gotta go through the training and all that jazz first, might not even make it" he tried to smile but it didn't quite reach his eyes and with the silent responses the other two gave him, his shoulders slumped down, "I'm sorry guys. I didn't…"

"It's okay" Sephiroth cut across, waving his hand as if to dismiss the worry that was building, "You're getting what you wanted right? Best thing you can ask for in life"

Zack glared at his best friend, "You're a rotten liar, Sephiroth Valentine"

Eisa laughed, "Don't pay any mind to Sev, Zack, he's just a tiny bit on the jealous side is all" she grinned, turning around to hide the pain in her eyes, "Plus as long as you write and visit occasionally then we won't have anything to worry about right?"

Zack grinned, the emotion finally reaching his eyes, "You bet I will, promised my parents to do so to. But anyway, I didn't come here to say goodbye, I came to invite you both to my leaving party. We're planning on letting rip at the bar and not caring for the consequences…so why don't you come along"

Sephiroth went to reply but Eisa cut quickly across her elder brother, "Sure, Sev will go along no problems. He needs a good night out anyway, beats sitting in and looking after me all the time"

"You're invited to" Zack said, sounding a bit disturbed that Eisa hadn't included herself in anything.

Sephiroth rolled his eyes, "She's thirteen you idiot and my little sister is not going out drinking with us in the slightest"

"For who else is going to mix the best hang over cures for the lot of you?" she finished with a chuckle before sticking her tongue out at Sephiroth.

Zack smiled, knowing deep down he was going to miss the pair of them like mad but he could always get in easy contact so there was no problems there. "So it's settled then. Brutal"

"Better make two lots of that stuff Ei, who knows what state we'll be in" Sephiroth said, shaking his head at the utter embarrassment that had yet to occur.

"Aww you make it sound like I do things on purpose" Zack teased, digging Seph in the ribs, "But you can tell me one thing before I go and spend some quality time packing"

"What?" Sephiroth asked guardedly, knowing damn well that this could be a rather embarrassing question.

"How come I can't call you Seph but yet Eisa can call you Sev?" Zack asked.

Unintentionally Sephiroth choked on his drink and had to fight to keep the grin off his face. Luckily Eisa just frowned at Zack, "I've always called him it"

Zack looked at her, "I know, but why does he allow it?"

"Cause I'm his sister?" Eisa said, not entirely sure why something like this would matter right now.

"Yeah but I'm his best friend and I'm not allowed to shorten his name even though you two do it to each other" Zack continued on, oblivious to the fact that Sephiroth had choked for a second time due to the wording of the last sentence, "all the time. It's just never made sense to me"

Eisa sighed and rolled her eyes, "Try being two years old and saying Sephiroth"

"Eh?"

"Sev-ni-noth" Eisa mimicked her two year old voice, "Consequently it got shortened to Sev and that's what I've been calling him ever since"

Smacking his fisting into his palm, Zack, "Brilliant! Riku owes me ten gil for that"

"You made a bet on it?" Eisa asked, eyebrow rose in a similar way to which her father usually did.

Zack grinned but suddenly found his head in a tight lock as Sephiroth 'nuggied' him hard. "Hey get off me Seph!"

"Not going to happen anytime soon" said Sephiroth before letting out a yell as Zack managed to get one of his arms around to grab the silver pony-tail and give it a good hard tug before making a break for freedom. Rushing around the table, he snatched up a bacon sandwich, placed a kiss on Eisa's cheek and then dived expectedly out of the way and out of the door with a wave.

"We're meeting at mine at seven, see you there Seph!" Zack yelled, running for all his worth.

Sephiroth growled as he managed to get caught up by a chair but waved back with a smile on his face, "All right you annoying pain in the arse" the distant laughter faded away as Zack disappeared as did Sephiroth's smile.

Eisa passed her brother a plate with the sandwiches on, "I give him a week for writing letters home"

"Agreed" said Sephiroth, sitting down to eat and reflect on just how quickly life was changing once again.


	16. Stranger

**What If**

Disclaimer: if you haven't worked out by now I don't own FFVII at all and am not making any money from this either

Authors note: A couple of updates, just bits and pieces really to get a plot moving along which will hopefully instil a bit of mystery into everything.

**Stranger **

Eisa didn't think much of the strange lady who appeared in Gonaga three days after Sephiroth left reluctantly to go back to the farm before the Chocobo's ate them out of house and home. True there was something that made her intensely interested when she first spotted her but there was no obvious advantage to introducing herself so she kept away and let the elder folk deal with the stranger.

But then the rumours started.

Ones she could not ignore willingly.

The Stranger had spoken to the Mayer, warning him that Shinra were up to no good and it was likely that there were troublesome times ahead. This was nothing new to Eisa's ears, she had heard it all before from her father who was known to distrust the company with a vengeance but she still listened to the gossip of the housewives when she went out to market.

Unfortunately it melted away pretty quickly, for there were no stories that can be fuelled on just rumour so Eisa forgot about the warning.

Needing money for food and basic upkeep, she started doing odd jobs around the village. Everyone knew that she was reliable and no hassle so they allowed her to do what she wanted, paying her enough so that she didn't have to get her elder brother involved.

Not that she didn't want to of course, but he had his own issues to deal with and plenty of problems occurring on the farm to worry about her to much.

She smiled upon receiving a monthly payment and a letter from him. Eisa always liked receiving her brother's letters, they were usually ten pages long with every last detail explained and they always made her laugh. Normally they would be forwarded onto her parent's current address in Midgar, using false names of course to avoid any suspicion but recently she had received nothing from them in the slightest and didn't know why.

Maybe the postman had been attacked again, although it was uncommon it was still possible and with reluctance she decided to wait one more week to get the letter before notifying Seph of what was going on.

There was no harm in being patient in her mind.

"Are you a Valentine?" a voice cut through her homework several days later and with a jolt Eisa looked up to find herself staring at the Stranger who had walked around a month or so ago.

The Stranger was tall, thin and lean dressed in a long red robe with white triangles on it. Only the lower part of the face was visible, as well as one hand which appeared to be scared but Eisa didn't pay much attention to something like that then. Blinking her red eyes, she chose to say nothing hoping that the figure would go away.

The Stranger nodded and offered a brown envelope, "Your eyes betray you. Take this and may it bring you some useful knowledge."

Placing the letter down, the figure turned and left appearing to glide across the floor. Even though it was a stupid thing to do, Eisa felt inclined to ask, "What are you?"

A laugh, dark but more in a dry sense of the word than sinister, filtered as the figure turned around, "An forgotten…unlike you my dear"

"What do you mean?"

"Someone is searching again" the voice was raspy, not that clear and hard to distinguish between male or female, "Someone who you should and will fear. You will forget everything, as is meant to be but keep a eye out for my lost children for they will aid you once all is said and done"

Waking up in her own bed, Eisa blinked in confusion and she attempted to rise only to find familiar warmth resting nearby. Turning her head, she found her brother gently sleeping but she knew automatically that he had been greatly distressed about something. A slither of paper was clutched in his fingers and she tugged at it.

There were only three words written, in shaky handwriting which had been done with a crayon or so it appeared. For some reason they sent a shiver of fear down the young girl's spine but there was no reasoning for it.

The words: _From a Stranger_


	17. One

**What If**

Disclaimer: Don't own

Authors note: A bit of a sad one this.

One

_Hey Seph_

_So sorry I haven't written to you in like forever…actually I think this is my first letter to you. My bad but hopefully you'll forgive me. _

_Anyway the training here is really tough so half the time I'm conked out on my bunk trying to catch up on some sleep but it's pretty damn hard when you've got a drill sergeant who expects everything to be done before he's even asked it. Seriously he's a total jackass but remarkably fun at the same time. Thankfully I don't have to long to remain with the platoon. I'm getting promoted to SOLIDER, can you believe it? _

_My parents are going to be thrilled, though I don't seem to have gotten any mail from them lately…true I'm almost as bad as writing to them as I am to you but I swear that I have written a few letters to them but haven't gotten anything back. Knowing me it'll all be under the mounds of paperwork they make you do. _

_How's Eisa doing? I've been wondering about her of late, dunno why but just something seem's to have me thinking for no apparent reason. Do me a favour and check on her if you haven't already, I know how much of an overzealous protective twit you are with her. _

_Oh and say hi to your parents for me as well, they should be back by now I think. Leastways I've not seen them when I've been on patrol or on a day off, though they could be in a different part I suppose. But really by now I should have run into them right?_

_Aw who minds? I probably wouldn't recognise them with that special thing of theirs would I?_

_Anyway, what have you been up to my friend and how you keeping?_

_Let me know soon okay? _

_Gotta run cause if I'm caught writing this rather than keeping a close eye on the gates of some useless building I'll get smacked around by Angeal and his new best friend Genesis._

_See ya!_

_Zack Fair_

_P.S hey just found out that we should be going on manoeuvres somewhere around your farm over the next month or two so keep an eye out okay?_

Listening to the rain hitting the roof of the barn as Sephiroth read the letter from Zack; he felt his heart grow heavy. How could the spiky haired idiot not know of all the things that had happened? Surely he had heard rumours and being at Shin-Ra itself he should have access to the stuff but it appeared that Zack didn't know.

When he thought about it logically it made sense that a high powered electrical company wouldn't inform their Infantry of such things. He let out a sigh, shaking his head and leaned back with his eyes closed.

Everything was going wrong in life at the moment and he was sure this was only the start of a hell of a lot of trouble. He wanted to tear up the letter and curse Zack for being a total idiot but instead he just kept hold of it, folding it up carefully and with precision. "Oh Zack," he sighed, shaking his head and rising, "If you only knew half of the truth"

Corel, his light pink chocobo, cooed at him lightly before taking the long pony-tail in her beak and giving it a playful pull. Sephiroth smiled at her, gently rustling her feathers and trying to get his hair back before she destroyed it, "Hey there girl, its okay. Just a bit of rain is all"

There was a crack of thunder as the words left his mouth and Sephiroth had to roll his eyes. Thankfully Corel was fearless when it came to storms and only ever got stared by worms – a very strange character trait which he subscribed to some kids tormenting her when she was young.

A victory fanfare sounded from his mobile and pulling it out he frowned at seeing his sister's number one the caller ID. "Eisa, don't tell me you're still afraid of thunderstorms" he said, gently brushing Corel's feathers.

"It's Mum" came a cracked reply and the sounds of tears

Sephiroth felt his stomach plummet several thousand feet into the ground below him, "They found her?"

Eisa seemed to pause, almost as if she were nodding and Sephiroth knew by her silence just how they had done so. He felt tears brim over into his eyes but knew what to do. "Pantheon, sweetie, stay there. I'll come home…oh gods will I come home"

Saddling up Corel as quickly as his shaking hands would allow, Sephiroth made his way to his home feeling that an entire age was passing. It couldn't be so, it just couldn't be. Not his wonderful mother, not the woman who had given up everything to ensure that her two children were safe.

Upon arriving home though, it was clear that Lucy was never coming back to them. She had moved onto the life stream, leaving only golden locket which Vincent had given to her for an anniversary present. Grabbing hold of his sister, Sephiroth didn't know what they were going to do anymore. With Vincent missing and their mother dead, life was not going to get any easier.


	18. Cage

**What If**

Disclaimer: Don't own anything recognisable, the new character is mine though

Authors note: OMG! I'm so sorry for the length of time it has taken me to update this! I've been super busy with visiting peeps and work that writing has unfortunately had to be put on the back burner for a bit. Here's a bit of a dark one for you all, basically decided to explain partially what's going on with Vincent at the moment but still leave a couple of things unsaid. Hope you all enjoy.

Cage

Vincent was beside himself with rage and fury, he had been ever since they had dragged him biting and clawing into the lab at the top of Shin-Ra's Head Quarters. True he had taken out several of the guards on the way up and landed nine with a permanent desk job if the company still did such things and that was before Chaos decided that enough was enough and had forcibly transformed the ex-Turk's body into his own. The stench of blood still hung over the entire lab from that occurrence but unfortunately Hojo had been prepared for such a thing and simply cut the oxygen to the room after locking the place down.

It had still taken some time for them to fall.

Vincent had no idea of what had happened after that, he had been completely out cold within the depths of his mind that Chaos had initially feared his human counterpart would slowly fade away and become a shell which he would have to inhabit forever. Not a particularly good option, even though Vincent was strong and immortal - thanks to the sick and twisted Professor – but the human body was not exactly designed to hold a demon inside it.

Thankfully after nine days of constant testing - of which Chaos never wanted to go through ever again but was aware that the human would need relief sometimes if this was to be the norm – Vincent had stirred himself awake only to be greeted with a syringe full of Mako being injected into his left arm to see if the healing agents within it would do it any good. Of course it wouldn't, considering the maniac had gouged a massive deep cut into the arm so that he could see the inner workings and add some mechanical devices to replace the broken ligaments. Even though Chaos hadn't been paying much attention to the words the moron spoke, he was clearly aware that this was not the first time the man had performed such operations.

The thought sickened him, especially when he mentioned a name which sounded female.

The torture continued, daily injections of Mako, experiments to draw out the demons within – which naturally they all resisted but had to give in eventually because Vincent was just in to much pain – processing of reactions and the vivid descriptions of the seemingly dead cells and body parts that were growing and surviving against all natural elements. Chaos frequently stormed about wanting to rip the man apart, whilst the others simply growled but were unable to get anywhere close to the professor thanks to a collar which sent a high powered blast of whatever materia was shoved into the slot at the front.

That had been added after the one and only time Galian Beast had snapped, broken free of the restraints and managed to get a good chew on Hojo's arm before several sedative darts had been shoved into the creatures body which had succeeded in knocking them all out for an extended period of time.

It was only in the darkest part of the nights that Vincent would allow himself to cry, even then it was only a few stray tears that were allowed to fall but it was a release that he mentally schooled himself into believing would keep him sane on some level.

"Vincent" Chaos addressed him directly one cold night when there was no chance that the guards wouldn't opt for warmth in a nearby cupboard, "When do you plan to escape?"

"I don't if it's possible…" came a laboured reply as the gunslinger fought to keep down whatever substance was threatening to leap up his throat for the ninth time that evening, "those bastards

"Damn the gods Vincent!" Chaos howled, none to happy, "You've got two children out there! If Hojo learns of them"

Vincent gave off a shudder which made Chaos pause and mull things over for a few seconds, "He already knows about them, doesn't he?"

"Sephiroth definitely…Eisa I don't know" came the mental reply as the unfortunate man was busy chucking up blood once again, "If he found out about the disguise materia then it's more than likely that he'll find out about her"

Chaos cursed in an ancient tongue, a vile curse which in bygone days would have been considered extremely rude. The demon was silent for a few seconds, searching out the life signs of the two children and relieved to find them both still alive and currently unaware of any situation. The only problem was that they were apart, so if one were to be snatched…he didn't want to think of the consequences. The demon blinked at realising that a question had been asked and rather embarrassedly coughed, "Sorry, was checking on them there"

"Thankfully that was what my question was…" Vincent trailed off, becoming aware that someone was approaching the lab. This was an unusual occurrence given the time but he automatically slunk back into the back of the cage he was kept in, suspecting that it was a guard coming in with some form of food that was more like gruel than anything else in the entire world.

However what came through the door was Hojo, along with two guards who were holding a young person firmly between them. Despite his inability to hear very well due to the extra thickness of the glass – Hojo was not going to provide such an easy escape route – Vincent did manage to catch a few words which were pretty meaningless but thankfully Chaos had Galian Beast listening intently to find out what was going on.

The boy – as it transpired - was half hidden from view by one of the guards and the bright fluorescent lights definitely did not help his focus at all but Vincent picked up easily on the fact that blood was dripping from some part of his face onto the floor and a crop of silver hair could just be seen. Chaos sighed and mentally tugged Vincent away, "Don't look. It's the boy that Hojo keeps ratterling on about"

"The remnant?" Vincent asked, having heard the name more than once and also aware that Hojo kept on referring to his son in a very similar way. The thought sickened him and for no other reason than a simple brief shared horrible experience he couldn't look away.

Chaos seemed a bit edgy about this but decided against forcibly dragging the other away, he would hear the screams anyway. "Yes…I think he's called Kaju or something of that kind but I'm not…" he broke off as the boy yelled as a scalpel touched the flesh on his face and Vincent found himself curling away from such noises.

The sound lasted for what seemed like forever and Vincent lost time of when the blackness hit him. Slowly opening his red eyes to the sound of crying, or at least hiccupping breath, he stared around at the darkness once again and finally settled on a shadowed form close to the wall near his glass container. Shuffling along, he lightly tapped at the glass, hoping to get a response from the figure but receiving nothing more than a defensive curling up.

"Kaju?" he asked quietly through the glass, hoping that something would occur to instil change but it didn't work.

When he was rudely awoken the next day, for more testing he presumed, the boy was gone and he knew the pain was going to be extreme today. Life fell back into a normal – if horribly sick and twisted – routine that he could almost blank out and deal with in the dark until he heard mention of the Clone Remnant program failing.

Hojo was beside himself with fury and demanded that the subjects be found and accounted for before years of work was lost. For some unspoken reason, Vincent found that there seemed to be an extra bit of rage in Hojo…just a small lump on his back that withered and appeared to bubble at the thought of something going wrong but he was quickly brought out of his thoughts by a sharp backhander and Hojo growling, "If I find this is anything to do with your interference, I shall rip that arm completely off your body!"

The next two nights were spent in fear of his children having been found, there was no light in this room other than the horrid ones that simply turned on whenever Hojo was there and immediately shut down when he left, unless there was an assistant around. There were no experiments in that time, which gave him the unique chance to slowly heal himself even though he longed to have a cure materia right now to speed things along.

"Vincent?" as voice asked him, soft and gentle but laced with a harsh tone as if the person speaking had some form of cold.

Opening his eyes, the ex-Turk turned his head in the direction of the voice and found himself to be staring at a girl who he could only presume to be Kuja from before. He gulped and wondered how he had gotten in here, "What are you?"

"Shh" he said, gently placing her fingers on his lips and he noticed that the boy was definitely not the one from before, his hair was short and there was an almost childish innocence to his eyes, "I've found a way out of this utter hell…unfortunately it will only work for one person and I cannot stay here any longer. I have a favour to ask of you…in return I shall do one for you because you have been the only person in this place to even care what is happening to us"

"I've hardly done anything though" Vincent whispered, feeling highly unsure of what was going on right now.

The boy who was not Kuja smiled, a slight grimace clearly on his face, "That doesn't matter…Hojo's moving you to a different location over the next week. He's also moving my brothers, I just want them to have someone to hold onto and I was hoping you could fill in for me?"

Even though he knew it was pretty ridiculous to take someone on such face value, Vincent's old Turk habits told him that this boy was genuine in his request. He nodded, "I will try my best"

"And in return?" he prompted, glancing over his shoulder as a sound came distantly from a tube somewhere in the shadows at the back of the lab. There was silence for a few seconds whilst Vincent considered what he should ask in return.

"I have two children…Sephiroth and Eisa" Vincent kept his voice to a bare whisper but guessed that he could hear him perfectly well, "I fear what that bastard will do if he finds them. Can you seek them out and…" he heard the heavy sounds of soldiers approaching and gave him a feeble shove, realising that he was still strapped to the table, "Go. Before they catch you"

Vincent allowed himself to fade into darkness there, forgetting the boy and the conversation and letting the pain distract his thoughts for the first time in what felt like forever. He would keep his promise to the boy if he got the chance but at the moment he had to worry about where they were moving him to.

He really didn't want to go back into that coffin anytime soon.


	19. Sudden Departure

**What If**

Disclaimer: Don't own FFVII in any way, shape or form. This is purely for fun and I'm not making any money out of it.

Authors note: So sorry I've been gone for ages guys and gals, had a bit of a rough time over the last couple of months but hopefully this'll make up for everything.

Sudden Departure

Placing pink carnations at the graveside, Sephiroth had to force the tears to stay behind his eyes. He couldn't believe that his mother was gone; it still felt to surreal and horrid to bare alone. He didn't want to think of the 'what ifs' this time, he just wanted her back in his arms with that familiar smile and gentle laugh. Now he thought about it, there was so much that he missed about her when he was away that he couldn't even begin to count. She had meant everything to him, just like the rest of his family and he didn't want to even begin thinking about what would happen if anything were to happen to his father or his little sister. The funeral wasn't much of an affair, though everyone had turned up with offerings and ensured that Lucrecia Valentine was buried with the proper respect but both of her children had chosen to stay by the graveside rather than go to the feast that was held in their memory.

Grace understood why, the Valentines had a pretty rough life. Though she was aware of only a small part of it, the woman felt that she had a closer connection to them than anyone else in the village and desperately wished that her son was there to comfort them. She doubted that her letter, informing him of such a tragedy would get to him on time but she had still tried for their sakes and it was all that she could do at the given moment in time. Turning away as Eisa walked up to her brother, Grace sighed and sent a prayer to the life stream for the pair of them to be protected at all costs.

Had she realised that this would be one of the last times that she would ever see the pair then she would have turned around and hugged them tightly, been the support that they needed but she knew what grief was like to deal with at such a young age and so left them.

Sephiroth clung to his little sister, tears freely pouring down his face and mixing with hers as well. They remained in one another's arms, simply letting out all the questions that were built up inside of them, whilst the scorching hot sun gently fell through the blue sky to the ground. It was getting dark before Sephiroth even noticed that Eisa had cried herself to sleep and with a sigh he gently carried her back to their empty house. Once she was settled in her bed, shivering slightly with grief even though he had placed a gentle kiss on her cheek, he made his way shakily across the landing to his parent's room.

It felt so alien and cold now, with no hint of warmth that a man and a woman who loved each other very much had once been in this room. He wanted to break down in a yelling rage but didn't, instead hitting his head against the wooden doorframe until a trickle of blood crept down the side of his face.

The blood was enough for him to get his senses into gear; he had to protect Eisa now at all costs as it sounded like someone had gotten wind of Vincent whilst they were in Midgar. Either of the children had any idea why they had gone there, it wasn't their business to know, but Sephiroth guessed that someone had given away their location. He didn't believe that it was Zack, that was just too obvious and plus the other would rather die than give away that information. Plus he didn't know what the disguise would look like either so it wouldn't be him.

Leaning back against the wall, the young man gave up on ever trying to work out how the information had gotten out. There was no way he would ever learn and plus there was the slight problem that his father was missing…actually now that he thought about it how did Eisa learn of such a thing? A cold shiver of dread ran up his spine and heading downstairs he searched everywhere he could think of for the letter that would have had to come.

Nothing official looking turned up, until he moved something on the kitchen table and in the half-light of the night was a newspaper cut out. Picking it up with shaky hands, he stared at the image of his mother, lying dead in the street with shadowy figures in the background dragging someone off. It was only a rough image with a caption that said '_dead Avalanche member, May 3__rd__'_ and attached was a note in scrawly writing which said _I'm sorry._

"May 3rd?" Sephiroth sat down and stared up at the calendar on the wall, it was July now. They hadn't even bothered to contact them, which meant that the Shinra were searching and had been for some time. He looked down at the scrawl of writing, not recognising it in the slightest but getting the feeling that he really should do. His mind and heart conflicted over what he should do next and for a fleeting moment Sephiroth was tempted to grab the phone and ring the number Zack had given but didn't dare.

Letting the tears fall again, he let out a yell of anger and screwed up the picture before throwing it to the other side of the room and bawled like he had never done.

New rays of sunlight were just creeping through the windows when Eisa accidentally woke her older brother up with a wet wash cloth. "Sorry" she said quietly, obviously cleaning the wound on his head, "I didn't want to wake you"

"Its okay" he said, trying to shake off the shades of sleep and noticing that she wasn't looking at him straight. For a few seconds he was confused but then sighed, realising that he had probably woken her up himself. Without saying a word, he pulled her close and rested his head against hers, "We'll be okay Eisa…we'll be okay"

"I hope so" she replied, barely audible.

Sephiroth stared ahead, rubbing her arms like he used to do when she was a baby and refused to go to sleep at night, why did such things always seem like just yesterday he wondered briefly to him. "Eisa…I want you to come to the farm with me. It's not exactly the most luxurious living but…"

"I know" came the reply, "I packed whilst I was waiting for you to arrive"

"How did you know?" Sephiroth was genuinely surprised as he was sure his parents had never talked to Eisa about their situation.

Those red eyes looked up at him with slight indignation, "Do you really think I'm that naïve? Mum and Dad managed to keep things quiet from me but once they started going to Midgar I started looking into things…I heard about Avalanche and all the things they were doing…I began to believe that they were helping in some way but then I stumbled on something which I don't think I was meant to" Eisa's whisper was barely audible once again and Sephiroth could possibly guess what she was getting at.

Raising suddenly, Eisa looked towards the windows, "What's that…" she started to ask before Sephiroth suddenly flung her to the ground as bullets smashed through the glass, splintered wood and destroyed everything in its path. More shots followed, lower to the ground and from the sudden increased amount of noise it was quite clear that the Shinra infantry were upon the whole village.

Shoving Eisa forward, Sephiroth pulled himself into a crouch and ran as best as he could in this nightmarish situation, ensuring to hold tightly onto Eisa at all costs. His heart was beating loudly in his ears but strangely he found that he could almost predict when the shots were coming. Reaching the main hall, he stopped and pulled his sister back before the door was suddenly knocked off its hinges and a group of infantrymen came charging through it.

Eisa reacted first, grabbing her brother's hand and heading back through the kitchen towards the barn. Corel's screech of indigence could be just heard above the noise of the gunfire and shouting and Sephiroth knew in his heart that if they got there before any of the others then they would have a chance to escape. However before they could reach the door, a SOLIDER appeared with glowing eyes.

Watching almost in horrified slow motion, Sephiroth saw Eisa's shoulder jerk back suddenly as if someone had knocked it before she tumbled back with a spray of blood from the gunshot wound. He never saw the officer fire and would never know that it was actually a keen sighted guard kneeling off to the side, but he quickly grabbed hold of his falling sister and backed in the direction he could only go. Terrified he stared at the men who had their guns pointed at them both, not understanding how they had gotten into the situation.

The SOLIDER walked forward, dominating the entire room and staring at the two with such a cold expression that Sephiroth hated him. The man nodded and pointed, "Take them both" he stated.

Once again it was Eisa who reacted first, kicking out at the first goon that tried to come their way but quickly the pair were subdued and dragged out into the open. Both were struggerling, trying to break free of the firm grips that held them when they both spotted a man in a white coat. Eisa glanced to her brother, seeing his blazing anger suddenly turning to stone cold fear and immediately she shut her eyes tightly, desperately trying to summon up the monster she knew existed within her soul but she hardly ever dared to communicate with.

However her concentration was broken when cold eyes attempted to pry open her eyes and accidentally they sprang open before she kicked out at the professor. Someone grabbed the wound on her shoulder and dug in deep, causing her to let out a harsh yell of pain. "This one" Hojo said, before turning his dark eyes towards Sephiroth, "Ah…I should have known to find them both together. Take them both"

Staring as they started to drag Eisa forcibly away, Sephiroth yelled out to his sister, trying to break free of the grip that the forced had on them and she yelled back to him, trying to reach him so desperately. For the briefest of brief seconds their fingers touched but then a SOLIDER smacked firmly on Sephiroth's spine and the others had him down on the ground before he could even guess where they had taken his little sister.

Unseen by all, two figures moved silently away from the scene though the carnage was still taking place in the town. One was desperately trying not to cry, his black spikes failing to cover the tears that were falling whilst the other was following to ensure that the other did not do anything stupid. Though he understood why his best friend was in the state he was, watching those you cared about being hurt unnecessarily was a tough thing to have to go through. Even if you were SOILDER.

Authors note: Reviews would be welcomed and keep subscribing peeps


	20. Criminal

**What If**

Disclaimer: As before and always, don't own and not claiming to. Eisa's mine though.

Author's note: Heh another update with a couple of slightly different perspective chapters cause I wanted to introduce some of the other characters from the game world. So expect things to be a little crazy and if anyones out of character it's probably because they're meant to be – i.e Zack – or the fact that I don't really know them that well – i.e Angeal – so forgive me ne?

**Criminal**

"But you don't understand!" Zack practically yelled, falling to his knees and desperately trying to stop the tears flowing down his face, "I should have done something…he's one of my oldest friends in the entire world and I just stood by and did nothing"

A gentle sigh, like the sun on the early morning dew, came his way and smooth hands ran themselves along the side of his face, forcing him to look up into the pale green eyes that said so much even though the girl had yet to breathe a word. "Zack…" Aerith said, trying to calm him down, "there was nothing you could have done. If you had intervened and been caught…then you wouldn't be here right?"

Zack hung his head low, shaking it slightly and wishing that the bright flowers all around him didn't make him think of home and the life he had had with Sephiroth and Eisa. Memories were surfacing all too quickly and it wasn't helping his self control levels in the slightest. "But…" he started, sniffing from the threat of tears.

"No buts, ifs or maybes Zack" Aerith said, knowing his pain all to well as she had been unfortunate enough to contact Lucrecia when her spirit became trapped in the edges of the church, "You know as well as I do what they would have done to you…what Hojo would think if he found out that you had contact with either of them. You've been granted time to think, plan how you're going to help them. Think of it like that, please?"

There was no response from the SOLIDER, he just collapsed forward with tears in his eyes and held onto her as if she was the most precious thing in the world. He wasn't far wrong with that analogy but at this moment in time the black haired youth had no way of knowing such a thing or even beginning to understand it. He was upset, hurt and furious with himself for having remained behind and simply watched as they were forcibly captured and practically thrown into Hojo's evil grasp. It wasn't like he could just waltz into the labs either; he wasn't the type of personnel that could do such things.

He had failed them, out of nothing more than an inability to do anything.

Some hero that made him.

Angeal walked down the street, casting a wary eye about for any patrols that would be about and hoping that his instincts were correct as to where Zack had gone. He knew that the other would be upset over this whole situation, hell who wouldn't be bar that manic bastard in the white coat and strange glasses, but he couldn't run the risk of his adopted little brother being court martial for not being on duty. That would turn a bad situation into a catastrophe of unequal standards.

Plus he was only slightly concerned about the others mental health, a broken SOLIDER was something he didn't want to deal with in the slightest.

Rounding the corner, his eyes fell upon the figure of a cadet standing guard outside of the church. No need to even guess that he was on the right track, even though Angeal tended to keep away from the errant puppy these days, talk did get around the base all too easily.

Stepping up to the cadet, he nodded once before saying, "Zack's in there right?"

The cadet seemed slightly on edge but stood slightly straighter and replied, "Yes sir" almost automatically.

Angeal waved his hand, indicating to the cadet that he didn't need to be so formal; he didn't want his cover blown so easily or alert an upset Zack to his presence. "Thinking that he's been some form of fool or something?"

"Not quite S-" the cadet caught the last part before they flew out of his mouth and looked down a little, "He's saying that he's a criminal"

Angeal sighed, shaking his head and looking up at the old structure, wondering if it was even safe for anyone to be in there. Granted it had stood longer than anyone had ever predicted that it was going to which was a good sign indeed but there was always something strange about this church which gave him the slight heebie-jeebies. Shaking his head, the 1st Class looked at the cadet before sighing, "Trust him to be overdramatic. Look, if you can get his attention off this situation for five seconds tell him to come and see me in the dinner halls on Friday night"

"Who shall I say" the cadet asked, sounding a little more on common ground which earned him a rare smile from Angeal.

"Just tell him Dingles and he'll know who you're on about" said Angeal, turning and heading away, knowing fine well that the cadet would be completely and totally confused over the old nickname indeed.

"Oh thank goodness you're still here!" came Aerith's sweet voice as the cadet turned around some time later, water dripping off his visor but he didn't really care at that point in time. She was certainly a sight for sore eyes after all the rain and a slight tinge of a blush crossed his features, thankfully the helmet would cover that much.

He guessed that Zack had probably passed out but still enquired, "What's wrong?"

Aerith grinned, "You're friend is a little worse for wear I'm afraid and I think he's going to need some help getting back. I would have thought you would have already ditched out, particularly in this weather?"

The cadet shook his head, knowing fine well if he had the option then he most certainly would have, "Can't really do such a thing when he's my roommate unfortunately Miss"

"Ah" Aerith said a little knowingly, leading the cadet into the church, "So you're Cloud then? I swear he won't stop talking about you half of the time"

Cloud winced slightly and made a mental note to slap Zack around the head when he got the chance, or at least give it his best shot. But he continued to follow Aerith to the slumped over Zack, only half listening to her idle conversation. It wasn't that he didn't mind it; it was more that he knew he had to deal with a depressed Zack which was about as much fun as being forced to run in this sort of weather with full gear on. The instructors liked doing that one a little to much and any chance they got it was bestowed upon the cadets.

Cloud got the feeling that he would be in serious trouble for missing out but maybe he would be given the benefit of the doubt as he was with Zack. Though knowing what some of the others thought about the errant puppy he highly doubted this.

Zack for his part was still sitting, slumped at the end of one of the long ago destroyed pews and seemed to have taken a piece of wood and scratched something into it. His eyes were cold and dead, the usual warmth that emitted from him was absent and Cloud couldn't help but feel his heart break at the sight.

He was going to be in so much trouble for this.

"Zack?" he said lightly, shaking his shoulder to try and get him to move, "Come on, we have to get back"

"Don't wanna" replied Zack, staring at the flowers across from him as if not really seeing them.

Cloud sighed, "You can't stay here all night…someone will notice"

"Let them"

Behind the helmet's visor, Cloud closed his eyes and shook his head. Trust Zack to choose to be stubborn now.

Thankfully Aerith cut in, "I know you don't want to go back Zack, but if you don't what help will you be to Sephiroth in a prison cell?"

That got some reaction from Zack and he looked up at her with slightly soft eyes. Aerith shook her head, kneeling down and tucking the hem of her blue skirt carefully under her knees, "Think about it will you? If you're walking free within the ranks of SOLIDER no one will question what you're doing, or if they do you can just pull one of your fast moves on them. You've got practically full access to the Shinra building and I'm pretty sure you can somehow charm you're way into getting what you need" Cloud detected a slight tease in her voice at that point which suggested she knew exactly how he would do that and he better not take anything seriously that did occur, "so I'm sure you can find and help your friends that way. Don't give up; it doesn't suit you in the slightest"

There was silence for a few seconds and then Zack leaned forward, placing a kiss on Aerith's lips. Cloud groaned and stood up, walking away from the scene with a shake of his head.

The pair of course didn't notice, deepening the kiss and getting a little more vocal until Cloud chose to shout, "Get a room!" at them.

Pulling apart abruptly, Zack was immediately on his feet and chasing after the escaping cadet with a wave towards Aerith and a shouted goodbye. Giggling to herself, Aerith stood up and stared across the flowers before raising her hands in prayer and silently sending one towards Sephiroth and Eisa, even though she didn't know them.

If they were important to Zack, then they were important to her.


	21. Smouldering Remains

**What If**

Disclaimer: Don't own Final Fantasy VII, okay? Any original characters (or semi in this case) are mine and I also don't own the toy mentioned. Though a virtual cookie for anyone who can guess what it is supposed to be.

**Smouldering Wreckage**

Loz felt a deep sense of sorrow as he walked through what remained of Gonaga in horrified fascination. He had of course heard about the raid, the news had spread like wild fire across the information networks and many people were stirred into unsure feelings. It had been reported that members of AVALANCE had been captured during the raid and were due to be punished by the highest statue that could be thrown upon them but ask anyone in the village and it was quite clearly a different story. Loz didn't know much when it came to dealing with grieving, his emotions were still that of a child but thankfully he had grown up a little during the past few months, but to those that he could he would offer his sympathy and help.

Some people stayed clear, not trusting him for the faint Mako glow in his eyes, others rejected him for simply being a stranger and only a few would be thankful for his assistance. Still very few people talked to him, or questioned what he was doing here; they were all wrapped up in their broken worlds to even begin thinking about strangers and what they could mean. Loz was thankful for that, he was pretty sure that if he mentioned to anyone that he was looking for the Valentine children then he would get lynched easily enough.

So he slipped among the residents, helping to hold scaffolding, digging graves for the head and generally clearing through the destroyed houses for anything that could be used to attempt a rebuild of the town. It was tiring work, long and exhausting with barely any compensation at the end. He lost track of the days that he was there, it all seemed to blur into one. At night he would sit and cry for those who had passed on, watching the green trails of light flow and skitter about as they returned to where they originally came from to be reborn anew.

On the third day, whilst he was just walking through one of the areas close to the Mako Reactor, which had let out its fair share of strange rumblings over the last few days, Loz spotted something rather unusual in the debris of a house. Well more correctly spoken he was virtually squashed by the thing which turned out to be a very excitable pink Chocobo. Having never really seen on before in his life, Loz had no idea as to what to do with it and tried to back away.

Unfortunately the Chocobo followed him, attempted to nuzzle him on more than one occasion and let out a 'wark' of indignation whenever he ignored it. "Shoo" Loz said, trying to side step and get out of the way of the bird only to miss his footing and land heavily in the remains of what had been a stable.

"Either you've got some grysal greens in your pockets" came a female voice, "Or Corel's taken a liking to you my boy"

Loz turned to look at the women, recognising her as Grace Fair, a lady whom he had helped drag children out of the remains of the school with. He stood up, obviously confused and completely ignoring the fact that the chocobo was now in the process of preening his short silver hair. "Corel?" he asked.

Grace tilted her head towards the bird, "She's the chocobo behind you who's attempting to eat your hair. I'm afraid she may have mistaken you for Sephiroth"

Loz felt his heart skip a beat slightly, "S-Sephiroth?"

"Yes" Grace nodded, sighing slightly, "He used to live in the house with his sister Eisa whilst their parents were away in Midgar doing who knows what. They were the ones that were taken by the Shinra…" she trailed off, shaking her head, "though what those mean men could want with those two is completely beyond me. I mean it's not like they were in any form of trouble were they?"

Even though Loz knew it was a rhetorical question, he sighed and shook his head, "They are now" he murmured but didn't elaborate on.

For the next few hours Loz searched through the wreckage of the house, on the pretence that it may have something of use to the village in it and also to stop Corel from constantly snapping at him. Strangely he found the bird to be good company once she stopped trying to eat him alive at any given moment and he was pretty sure that she would allow him to ride her when he needed it. Most of the stuff he found was burnt and destroyed beyond any comprehension but a couple of items were salvaged.

That night he sat by a fire on the outskirts of the larger groups, a snoring chocobo beside him and he looked at the objects with no real comprehension as to what they were. The first was a golden locket, brandished black and sealed firmly by the heat of the fire which had tried to consume it though to Loz it was an interesting little trinket that he wrapped up in a cloth and chose to keep safe. The second item was the remains of a toy, which may have been moogle like in origin but it just didn't quite fit the bill. For one thing it had been snow white at one point in time and it was wearing a dress, though it was horribly shoot covered now, and even had a bow on its pointy ear. He had kept it purely out of a childish instinct within his brain and he decided that when he got to the next town then he would attempt to get it fixed. Currently the doll, which he had dubbed Sooty for now, was sitting in his lap whilst he stared at the last remaining object.

He had never seen a photograph in his life, Hojo wasn't overly fond of having them around and plus it wasn't like he had ever had a family that would do such things. The image was typical of a family photo, with everyone present and Loz was able to guess who was who by pure association. Vincent was easy to spot, whilst his wife – he never heard her name – was leaning against him with a tired looking smile. Sitting just to her left was Sephiroth, which slightly gave him the creeps because he thought for a couple of seconds that it was his brother Yazoo but realised that it was impossible for him to be in this photograph and to the right was Eisa. She had a gentle smile in the picture, somehow looking a little bit on the awkward side but to Loz she was a very pretty girl. Her black hair had been tied up in a high pony-tail as was the style at the moment and the shine in her red eyes spoke of hidden mysteries.

He checked himself, knowing that there wasn't a lot that he could really do about this whole situation. He had to find both of them, find out what had happened though he could pretty much guess and help them escape along with his brothers. It was risky at best and he didn't know where to start looking. Midgar would take over a week to get to and apparently it had been airships which had taken the pair away but no one had really seen which direction they had gone in.

Tutting, Loz decided to wait until the morning before choosing where he should go. He would keep his promise to Vincent and his brothers, but it would take him an awful long time unless he got help.

Maybe tracking down AVALANCE wouldn't be such a bad idea.

The next day, before dawn was even fully up, the fire was doused and a simple note of thanks left besides Grace.

No one saw the boy and the chocobo leave but they would talk about it for generations to come.

Authors note: Hope you enjoyed the last two chapters, please review and don't worry I'll be tracking down Sephiroth, Vincent and Eisa in the next chapter or three so keep you're eyes peeled.


	22. No More Blood

**What If**

Disclaimer: don't own as per usual

Authors note: Well here's a couple more chapters, a little dark and reflective but hopefully interesting. Oh and Pride you have to be one of the most randomness reviewers I've ever had, I keep on giggling when I remember all of the crazy things that you do girl.

**No More Blood**

Days and weeks had melted into one another recently; it was next to impossible to tell the days apart here though sometimes he silently wished for sleep to claim him. Even the hellish nightmares that he used to live through before Chaos had decided to become an ally – of sorts – when everything had just been torrid nightmares and unforgiven sins. A sigh escaped Vincent, there were a few more on the list now thanks to the heartless bastard that was Hojo. The man appeared to take high joy in smashing any type of hope left within his subjects and spent hours making up things that would ensure there was no chance of ever recovering. A horrid existence for even an insane person to live in, Vincent sometimes wondered if it would be worth going insane just to escape the confines of this world.

Chaos of course had not been impressed with that idea in the slightest and would from time to time provide him with updates on his children, the fact that they were still alive and free from Shinra activity. It wasn't much more than that of course but it proved to be something solid to cling onto with sheer hope.

But fate was cruel as ever and one day Vincent wished that he had not woken up when he heard the scream. Normally he could just turn over and block them out, order Chaos to do something to distract him and wait until either Yazoo or Kadaj were dumped in the glass cage. Then he would be gentle, calming them down and helping for whatever small amount of time that they were granted. It wasn't much but to him it was a small amount of salvation in this dark world that had been forcibly shoved upon all three of them.

There was something different about this scream though, something that felt horribly familiar and yet welcomed in his heart. Turning he stared as a lab assistant crashed into the glass, causing ripples of splinters to filter through everything as the white coat slowly slipped down to reveal the person who had just pushed him backwards.

In an instant Vincent was up on his feet, banging on the glass and trying desperately to break through it even though he knew it was impossible and dangerous to do so. Sephiroth was there, terrified out of his wits and acting in the only way he knew how. He was fighting back, determined not to allow any of the assistants near him. "Sephiroth!" Vincent yelled, banging his fist against the glass, unaware that blood was seeping out of a wound, "Sephiroth!"

The young man turned finally, frantic eyes trying to locate the source of his name. Spotting him, Sephiroth ran towards the glass with an unexpected cry, "Dad!"

He couldn't believe that his father was still alive, it gave him some hope for this vile situation and desperately he searched for someway to open the cage. He couldn't leave the other in there, despite the fact that Vincent was shouting at him to get out and find his sister before anything could happen,

"Do you want him shot sir?" came a drawl of a Turk, the popping sound of a gun being loaded easy to distinguish from the noise of the CCTV monitors.

Hojo shook his head, "No…I have a better way to punish the wayward child. Order compound five to be sprayed into the room"

"Dad!" Sephiroth couldn't remember the last time he had been so happy to see Vincent, he didn't care that he was bawling his eyes out and hugging the other so tightly that he nearly broke a rib but receiving the same back was more than enough reward. "I'm sorry…they…they"

"Sephiroth listen to me" Vincent cut in, knowing that this was not a good situation in the slightest, "You've got to get out of here"

"What?" Sephiroth didn't understand what his father was saying the slightest; it wasn't like they could just walk out of the door at any given second.

"You've got to get out of here…find Eisa and get to somewhere safe" Vincent felt a shudder go through his system and knew automatically what was happening, "The first chance you get…get out and stay away from this place"

"You're not making any sense!" Sephiroth was confused, frightened and there was a familiar flash of determination in his eyes, "I'm not leaving you here!"

Vincent was breathing heavily, his eyes glowing strangely but taking a deep breath he managed to say, "Sephiroth, you only get one chance to escape and I'd rather not have more blood…" he let out a yell and crumpled to the floor, Sephiroth still holding onto him in desperation and calling out to him all the while.

"We're all going to get out!" Sephiroth tried to plead with Vincent, "All of us. You, me and Eisa!" he noticed the ripple going across his fathers bare back and slowly let go of the man, aware that he had only been told of what this could mean, "Dad?"

Vincent's head rose up, yellow demonic eyes glowing dangerously in his direction, "Why aren't you running?" asked a voice that was completely unknown to the twenty-year-old but it was more than enough of a hint to get going. Without hesitation, Sephiroth stood and ran towards the door, immediately banging on it with yells to let him out.

There came a sickening noise of bones crunching together which was followed by a horrid silence. Sephiroth backed away from the door, trying not to make a sound. He couldn't see the monster but something in the back of his mind spoke of its presence and he didn't want to even begin thinking about it, let alone see the thing.

Ducking beside a rather rounded dome, Sephiroth chanced a glance around the corner and immediately pulled back. Where his father had stood a mere few seconds before was a monster akin to the kind that haunted his nightmares to this day. Without realising it, a shiver started around his body and it took no persuasion to just sit still and hope that the monster couldn't sense him. Or that Vincent would regain control but knowing Hojo that would be a very slim chance.

_There you are_ came a new voice, startling him enough to make an involuntary sound of surprise. He glanced around, trying to locate the source but felt a knot developed in his stomach. It had been many long years away from such a honey covered tone but the hidden purpose was all too easy to decipher now. _I thought that idiotic human would never return my child to me…welcome home my son. _

"Shut up!" Sephiroth growled as low as he could under his breath, "You're not my mother…she's dead thank to you and that insufferable bastard"

There was a roar which forced the silver haired man backwards, staring as claws slashed into the place where he had been. They weren't Chaos's, that much he knew instinctively and a quick glance upward confirmed his theory. Something else had control of Vincent, something that would not listen to his pleas and was only interested in one thing. Blood.

_I can stop this creature…make him go away and have everything put right once again if you like_ came the honey voice again whilst Sephiroth continued to back up in desperation as well as trying to find any sort of weapon that he could use to defend himself, _You know what you have to do in order for that to happen. _

"Surrender my soul to you?" Sephiroth said out loud, knowing that he had already been discovered and there was no where to hide anymore, plus in all the wreckage of the lab the frantic scrabbling had located something which felt strangely warm in his eyes, "I would rather be ripped apart by this monster than submit to you"

Rolling to the side as the new monster slashed at him again, Sephiroth stood up and braced himself with the sword. It was rather imbalanced, had seen then end of its fighting days a long time ago and was rather dull in colour. Yet in his hands it felt right, the hilt didn't graze the way that the practice ones had when he had been young nor in the school at his home and it responded to even the smallest of moves that he made. Whilst he didn't want to hurt Vincent, he didn't want the other to be covered in his son's blood when he came to either.

The monster launched at him, claws and teeth snapping even though there was limited room in the laboratory and for some insane reason Sephiroth likened the situation to when he had practiced sparring with his father. His minds eye changed the scene before him so that he found himself back in Gonaga trying his hardest to get a single strike on his father but never succeeding in the slightest until he was fourteen years old. He had been rather surprised to get the cut to the wrist but hadn't backed down, moving quickly to avoid the oncoming attacks and strike back with his own. He had still lost at the end of the day, simply because Vincent had more years experience on him but from then on he had never backed down in a battle.

Of course against a monster like this, that was never going to be an option, Sephiroth could only hope that Hojo might get bored with the whole procedure eventually. Time melted away to nothing, the space became infinite and there was only him and the opponent there. Blood was split on both sides, scars made which would be haunted over forever and a determination to keep on going slowly built up. The boy was unaware that tears were falling down his face as he realised slowly that Hojo may just make him kill his father whilst the anguished screams from Vincent could just be heard as the creature roared.

Crashing to the floor after slipping on some of the residue blood from the fight, Sephiroth coughed and yelled out as the beast pinned his arm to the ground and broke the bone without even trying. He knew that this would be his end, the sword had been thrown to the opposite side of the room, embedding itself in a wall and there was no luxury of materia here. Except in the collar that was around the monsters neck. It sparked, firing a Bolt3 into the creature's body and causing it to reel back a few steps with a howl that was unlike anything he had ever heard before.

Suddenly there was a blinding flash from a white particle that had been dropped from the ceiling and the next thing either of them knew Vincent crashed to the floor, bleeding and broken just as much as his son. Tears were running down his face as he looked up, fear for what he had done shining in his eyes but it turned into utter disbelief as he saw that Sephiroth was just alive. Dragging himself forward, the ex-Turk desperately wanted to rip the scientist to pieces for making him do such a thing. "I'm so sorry" he whispered, collapsing against the other and unable to do anything more but simply be there for him.

Sephiroth was breathing slightly irregularly but his eyes spoke the fact that he understood. He tried to will his body into moving but it refused steadfastly to do anything bar scream silently in pain.

Guards came in, followed by a couple of medical assistants who shoved Mako injections into the boy despite his pained screams and hollow sounding breaths before he was forcibly hauled up to his feet and then dragged out of the room.

Vincent watched, unable to do anything and feeling a total failure for doing so. Another sin to add to his already long list, the thought crept through his brain.

_He will be mine once again, you do realise that don't you? _the voice came into his head, mocking him as it always did was annoying clarity in this insane world.

"Go and rot in hell" Vincent and Chaos said at the exact same time, silencing the calamity in the rounded dome cage.


	23. Snowstorm

**What If**

Disclaimer: same as always applies

**Snowstorm**

It was cold, much colder than any of the residents of Midgar could ever remember and the consequent snow was not helping in the slightest. Those that lived on the top plate regarded the stuff as a total nuisance, just another hindrance in their day to day lives that had services running slow and the cost of their heating going up. It was un-natural in their terms, cold and lifeless with nothing good to give to anyone.

For those who lived in the slums, it was a breath of fresh air.

Children ran around in the stuff, throwing snowballs at one another, building snowmen and generally having fun whilst the adults were glad for a long lazy day off where they could just revel in the fact that the young could still have a good time regardless of the weather. Plus as well it gave them the opportunity to act like hyperactive three year olds and lob snowballs at each other even though they really shouldn't have been doing so. Not that anyone said anything of course, snow was a rare enough commodity in these parts and it should be enjoyed by the slums standards.

But for two captives in Midgar, having fun in the snow was the last thing on their minds.

Having no room left to spare, with the additional specimen, Kadaj and Yazoo had been dragged from the damp cell they inhabited and had been dumped in one of the old, broken courtyards at the back of the Shinra building where no one ever went due to safety hazards. To ensure that they didn't escape, Hojo instructed that they be chained like the dogs they were to the walls whilst he decided what to do with them.

Neither really spoke, this outside world slightly unknown to them both and they longed to be back in the relative warmth of their cell, at least the wind didn't bite as much as it did out here.

They took turns in resting, ensuring that one was always awake whilst the other rested and they shared body heat in the only way that they knew how to.

Yazoo sighed, watching the grey sky with a little trepidation as the dark clouds formed thicker columns that before. Looking down to his slumbering brother, he shook his head and wondered if Hojo had finally abandoned them as failures. Worthless specimen who he had wasted far too long on and at the first opportunity thrown them out to die. Of course with all of the Mako in their systems the cold would take a long time to kill them but it seemed a rather unfair punishment considering everything that they had gone through.

"Looks like Loz may have been right in escaping…at least he didn't have to go through this right Kadaj?" he said quietly, hoping to get a response but only received a groan.

Shifting his position, he rested his head again the other and closed his eyes. If he really was going to die then he would rather it be now, when there was nothing to hope for.

Scuffing along the path, Loz had to stifle his sneeze along the mountain path as he cautiously made his way along the winding path. His search of Neiblehiem had turned up nothing except a few wayward monsters that were determined to eat him alive and rumours of ghosts in the old mansion. The people of the village were standard in their responses, seeming wary of his presence and unable to answer his questions that he wanted to know.

The mansion had turned out to be the biggest disappointment, it was simply old and dust covered with virtually nothing to explain what had happened. A couple of blown locks had led him to the basement which reeked of things he didn't even want to begin thinking about and the lab under it but the files of importance had been removed to another location which didn't help his situation in the slightest. It had taken four days to learn that fact of course which had served to only annoy him further than before.

Now he was making his way back to the one place that they could be. The metal city of Midgar. He knew that if he was caught then his life would not be worth living anymore but he had made a promise and it would be carried out, even if it meant his end. Corel was being surprisingly helpful, having taken to her new master with no hassle and had an intelligence level which made Loz think that if she possessed the ability then she would be talking. But his thoughts were far from that point, he was thinking more along the lines of how to survive this place.

The mountains would lead him back to Midgar without running into to many problems but they were dangerous all of the time and it went without saying that only fools would take such a risk. But compared to trying to fight off a squad of trained SOLIDER'S, he would take the high road any day.

"Come on Corel" he said needlessly, "not much further and then we can rest. It'll only take about a week to get to Midgar once we're through this bit"

Corel twittered slightly back at him before nudging his legs enough to finally get the youth to stop before she proudly plucked him up and proceeded to carry him forward. Granted it was a little unorthodox but Loz wasn't about to complain at the pink chocobo though he got the feeling that she could have been seeing him as a chick which was a rather odd situation to be in.

"Heh if Yazoo and Kadaj could see me now…" he started with childish intent but felt his heart sink lower at the thought of his two brothers. He had promised to save them as well but had forgotten about them almost. Still, he hardened his resolve. They were all in one location and he was going to save them all, no matter how hard it would inevitably be.


	24. Silence

**What If**

Disclaimer: as has been said before and forever will be, I do not own in the slightest and am not making any money out of this either.

**Silence**

If there was one thing that Hojo hated, it was silence. He liked being silent when he was in contemplation or working away on some report, but then it wasn't really silent because there was the clicking of the keyboard and the thoughts inside his head relaying the information. That sort of silence was the working type of silence, the one he rarely got to have under any ordinary circumstances but it was welcomed in short little bursts.

But when the silence came from someone who shouldn't be silent that really annoyed him.

Eisa had made herself silent after the first visit to his lab, when all he had done was simply inject some Mako into her system to see what the result would be. After of course doing a full body and mind examination to study such a wonderful specimen who by all scientific means shouldn't have been alive to begin with. Considering the fact that Vincent was technically dead and Lucrecia had nearly died in childbirth the first time around, Hojo just couldn't figure how the girl had been produced, let alone survived for thirteen years.

She had been quite vocal the first time, pleading with him to let them go and refusing to co-operate until sedatives were injected into her back, but even then she had tried to fight back with her words which made the professor curious about her. She knew things instinctively, things that she could not have been told and he couldn't figure out how she knew them.

He was pleased that Vincent had produced such an interesting thing for him to study and he had looked forward to the long years that he would have her kept within the Shinra Labs. Whilst his sole purpose was directed toward the Jenova project and the SOLIDERS, here was a prime example of a girl who could hold the secret that he had been missing for so long. He would work with her everyday, taking all the vital readings and slowly begin drawing out the information that he wanted whilst turning her into a perfect warrior at least that had been his plan originally.

But then Eisa had stopped talking.

Completely stopped.

There was no reason medically for such a thing to have happened, she hadn't deliberately injured herself and there were no mental problems that could explain it either.

Hojo was furious the first time she remained silent in his lab, even when he struck her across the face with the back of his hand only a small hiss escaped from her perfectly formed lips. He spent the next week trying to force words out of her mouth, make her talk and beg like she was supposed to do but excluding a few squeaks of pain she remained silent.

He then began tempting her, trying to will the words out with offerings of gifts or freedoms but she simply refused and began shutting off her emotions. This was not acceptable because whilst it made it so much easier for him to give the injections and get her to do what he wanted, he was only able to gauge the physical reactions and not her mental state. Plus she was thirteen and shouldn't be able to do anything of the sort. He ranted and raved at the assistants, trying to get some way out of them of how to deal with this situation but couldn't do so in the slightest. Everything they tried was just met with virtually no reactions and a continuing silence.

Eventually Hojo went and dragged Vincent from the medical ward, demanding that he make his daughter talk or else there would be hell to pay. Vincent stared at his daughter in slight confusion but as soon as their matching red eyes met he understood why Eisa was doing what she was doing. It hurt deep within his heart but he was also washed over with a great sense of pride. She wasn't giving in to the heartless monster that wanted to use her, she was fighting back the only way a child could. Locking herself away in a dark void where no one could quite reach her, unless she wanted them to do so.

He smiled, pulling her into a light hug and quietly he whispered words to her but Hojo did not hear them. Chaos stirred slightly within his mind, reaching out to touch the others and strangely appear beside her like a wraith before disappearing once again.

"What is wrong with the subject?" Hojo demanded to know when he got hold of Vincent.

"Nothing" replied Vincent, somehow keeping his voice level, "She's cutting herself off from the world and there's nothing you can do about it"

Eisa was locked in one of the colder cells that night, one of the few that were actually made out of stone and not metal. She annoyed the guards by finding a loose stone and drawing on the walls and when Hojo came in the next morning he was greeted by a half-slumbering figure as well as a roughly drawn outline of a home.

He kept on trying to force the other to talk, even resorted to torture methods which only earned him screams of pain and tears but no words, or at least those that made sense. Even when he allowed a couple of SOLIDERS to have their way with her, or when he forced Kadaj to do the same thing she did not speak a word the whole time. Squeaks became the norm and screams were only present when she was in an extreme amount of pain.

When Sephiroth finally saw her, some two weeks later, he didn't at first understand what had happened but quickly grew accustomed to the silence as they were forced to spar on occasion. Just to be near her was enough for him, as sometimes when they were left alone whilst data was collated they were together in the silence. He tried to copy the same method but couldn't quite do so, guessing that it was probably from a time before he knew the true meaning of the word family.

Though one day, whilst they were waiting in the training room during a power outage, she did speak to him though it was brief and raspy.

"Brother?"

"Yes?"

"Stay alive"

"I will"

After another week of silence, Hojo gave up on ever getting the girl to speak again. She clearly wasn't going to which was a shame he reflected but hopefully it would turn out for the best in the long run.

_Subject E1: Silent for now, possibly forever. _

He wrote in his notepad one day and left it at that.


	25. Seventh Heaven

**What If**

Disclaimer: Don't own, never have and never will

Authors note: Here's three chapters which should get the right emotions going, not happy ones I'm afraid but meh, angst is always good in these sort of things right? Oh yeah there's been a time jump again, it's not apparent in the first one but just so people wouldn't get confused. Read and review, tell me what you think and I'll see what I can do.

**Seventh Heaven**

Zack didn't actually remember getting to the bar that day, nor what time he actually started drinking. He didn't even remember why he had been in the slums in the first place, let alone how he had managed to get there on this rather bleak and dreary day with the rain lashing down at the window and the distant roll of thunder in the background. If he had been more aware he would have thought it highly strange for a storm to be reaching this far down in Midgar but his brain was operating on a two way system. More drink and feel sorry for yourself.

Nursing the small whisky, the solider first class knocked in back in one go and almost immediately wished he hadn't. The fiery liquid burnt down his throat, practically stripping away the inner lining and making him feel worse than he already did. Coughing, he became aware briefly of a wet substance on the top of the bar which was not alcohol and traced his fingers in it briefly before placing his head down on the rough surface and closing his eyes.

The barmaid looked up from her current task of cleaning one of the tables and rolled her brown eyes skywards. She had heard that Soldier's could drink any house dry and still ask for more but this guy was either an extreme light weight or hadn't taken the right things today to make him practically immune to the effects of the drinks she had given him. Granted he had paid handsomely, caused no problems what-so-ever and in comparison to the usual riffraff that came here he was quite the gentleman. Tifa sighed and went back to her work; she would wait until Barrett came back before attempting to send him out onto the street at this hour.

Half an hour later the door opened and Barrett walked in, his gun-arm glistening with the water and his clothes soaked to the bone, "Yo Tifa! You still open at this time of night?" it was a general jibe at her the young woman knew but that didn't really bother her to much.

"Who else do you think it would be?" Tifa asked, before hitching her head towards the bar, "Besides we still got a customer and I didn't fancy carting him out by myself because I'm just a poor defenceless female"

"Defenceless? You?" Barrett had to raise an eyebrow in mock surprise, "you sent those little punks flying last month when they tried to rob the place and then had the courtesy to smack the living daylights out of their papa when he came a knocking barely two hours later"

"Well there's a difference between those Unders and the likes of him" Tifa said, hoping that Barrett would just get the hint and get the guy out of here. She really did want to close up before any of the night-time patrol's started up. They could deal with their own, that was her opinion on the fact.

Barrett stepped up to Zack, pulling him back and snarling before saying something about 'Shinra scum' under his breath and pulling the extremely drunk man clean out of his seat and across the bar.

Zack became aware of what was going on and semi-snapped out of his state, "Hey! What the!"

"All drunks get this treatment…go back to your precious Shinra and stay out" Barrett said, shoving the Solider forcibly forward. Zack found himself half-sprawled in the mud more out of the sheer surprise of the situation than anything else and turned with a glare back to the man who had shoved him so roughly out but before he could get a word in edgeways the door slammed and bolted fast.

"They're not my precious Shinra" Zack mumbled to himself before standing upright and lightly brushing off some of the mud that would give him away when he got back to the barracks. Looking up at the name of the bar, he made a mental note of it and started off down the well worn paths to hopefully get back before anything bad could happen. However barely a hundred yards down the road, Zack stopped and turned back to watch the neon light fizzle off. "Well I'll be damned" he murmured lightly to himself, turning back to the huge monster that was Shinra Building, "I think I know a way out of this mess…hang on you two. I'll save you both, I promise"

For no real reason that he could think of, Zack ran back to the bar and banged on the door. Of course no one answered him, not that he really expected it to happen but he was sure that this situation could be well worth all of the hassle that it could cause. Finding a scrap of paper and a pen in his pocket, who knew what they were doing their in the first place, the errant puppy scribbled a hasty note and slipped it under the door before taking off again. Why he had never considered this route before was beyond him but there were still things to be done. If he just left with no explanation then everyone he knew would be integrated.

Actually some of them totally deserved it but he was determined to ensure that his two closest friends in this god forsaken place were at least ready to help him out in some form or other. Convincing them would be downright tricky but Zack knew that if he were persistent enough both would have to break down their barriers eventually and listen to him.


	26. Marbles

**What If**

Disclaimer: still no own

**Marbles**

For the fifth time in a row the lights had failed in the lab once again and Hojo had gone storming off in a screaming rage, yelling at the top of his voice about someone going to get fired or worse should he get his hands on him. Eisa lay in the dark where she had fallen, aware of nothing but the floor underneath her and the comforting darkness that seemed to stretch out for miles. Her red eyes could easily pick out shapes, the distinct forms of the tanks, research desks and other things that littered the room these days but hardly any of it registered anymore. Being one of the first female 'test subjects' of Mako injection was proving to be a real pain in the neck. Well for Hojo at least, which was always a good thing.

At first, Eisa had reacted the same way that everyone did who was injected with Mako. Her abilities went up, accuracy with weapons was better and her strength and stamina more than enough to match any of the first class Soldiers who were around to fight her on a frequent basis. But then something began happening, it was barely noticeable at first, Hojo had put it down to a lapse of concentration more often than not, but slowly signs of something not being right with the girl came to the forefront. She stopped eating, only taking water for sustenance and throwing up whenever anything else was forced down her throat.

Simple things became hard challenges for her, she could barely remember one day to the next and ordinary activities such as washing and dressing oneself were completely alien. Hojo had assumed that it was just her way of being deviant and had of course punished her but even he was unable to deny that something was wrong after three weeks of the same thing occurring. He stormed about, trying everything he could think of and testing the girl for any signs of Mako poisoning or anything else that could suggest what was going on. He would shout at her long into the night, trying to get her to say or do anything but it was all pointless.

After two months of this, Hojo decided that he would try one final thing before going and reporting to President Shinra about this latest 'hiccup' that was turning out to be a royal pain in the backside. Marching down the halls, complaining loudly about the lights again, the mad scientist nearly crashed into one of his oldest colleges who frowned at him, "Hey Bill, what's wrong with you? You're all white" the man was carrying a portable torch.

Hojo sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose, "These flaming lights have gone out again and the subject has gotten worse over the last few days. I've tried everything that I can to get it back on track but nothings working"

"Ah" said his college, patting the smaller man on the shoulder, "Don't worry the tech's will have this place back up and running fairly quickly and I'm sure you'll think of something to get that subject back moving again"

"I've already thought of something…I just hope it works or else two years of research will be down the drain and Shinra will not be impressed in the slightest" Hojo said a little more quietly before heading off in the direction of the other two subjects.

It wasn't far from the lab but with the lights being out and the torches having a tendacy to break pretty much all the time, it took the professor a lot longer than normal. Keying in the code to gain entrance, he sighed in relief at finding there was still power getting through to the holding chambers for the subjects which were converted prisons. Shinra had taken offence to some of his foundation rooms being used as holding chambers as they were to close to the public eye for any gang who could be snooping around down there. So he had ordered that Hojo construct something near his labs and had given the rarely used brig over to the scientist with the hope of getting more results.

Calling up the security screens, Hojo examined the images to confirm that subjects K2 and Y1 were still in the induced comas whilst the skin grafts were continuing their work whilst subject V5 had obviously become aware of his presence and was backed up against the wall with the crude bed on it. S1 was in his own cell, keeping it head down but leaning against the same wall that V5 was leaning against just in his own adjoining cell. Obviously the pair had been talking again which was annoying but at least he didn't have to put up with it twenty-four hours a day.

Hojo's scientific mind began to ponder which one would be the most likely to get a response out of E4, summing up the pros and cons of each individual and what they could possibly do.

Meanwhile back in the lab, Eisa had finally pushed herself up from the floor and began thinking. It was a hard thing to do, think, but sometimes it helped the girl to sort out things in her head. She didn't remember getting brought to this place nor why she was alone but there had to be a reason of some sort. Nearby something rattled and on instinct she turned her head to the side, trying to see what it was. A shaft of light crept in from a high up window and a shape moved against the glass. It appeared to be a creature with feathers on it but having no memory of what a bird was, Eisa had no clue as to what it could be.

Plus birds of Midgar didn't tend to be bright red and yellow with strange curled edges. Standing up, she walked forward a couple of steps to get a better look but to her dismay the creature was gone. Sighing, she looked around again but failed to spot anything that could explain where she was or why she was here. The creature vanished from her mind the second a small box fell to the floor and scattered its contents on the floor.

Kneeling down, she went to tidy them up automatically but suddenly found herself curious and watchful. The contents had been a selection of small round objects that glowed with different colours. Some where yellow, others green, one purple and a couple of pinky-red ones. Reaching for these, she rolled them around in her fingers with a look of confusion, recalling a childhood game briefly called marbles but not understanding where it had come from in the slightest which was highly annoying but there was little that she could do. However a tiny voice inside her head, always soft spoken and playful to her mind, told her to keep the red ones safely con-sealed and out of sight from the angry man. Eisa complied, placing the two orbs which shined a little brighter in her opinion into an old hidden pocket just as the lights flickered blindly back on with the electronic keying of a code and the swoosh of a door opening.

Hojo threw Sephiroth to the ground and growled, "Make that specism remember" before slamming the door – if that was even possible to do – and locking it tightly. Breathing heavily, Sephiroth turned his head away from the door and tried to figure just what the hell was going on but then his green eyes fell on the figure of his little sister. A joy unlike anything he had ever experienced well through his heart and he shot forward, grabbing hold of her tightly and pulling her into the deepest hug that he could ever remember giving her. It had been so long since he had last seen her or had the chance to hold her so close, smell that lovely intoxicating smell that had enthralled him the very first time that he met her and know that she was alive.

Memories immediately flooded his resolve, small times spent together playing games, running around and causing havoc without meaning to, helping her understand the rather simple mathsatics questions in her homework, setting her on Zack when he got annoying for him to handle and a thousand and one other silly little things. Her laugh, her smile, everything that made Eisa his little sister, his little beacon of light in the darkness that would never be extinguished in his heart no matter that happened to him. "Eisa! I've been so worried about you…" he failed to notice that she hadn't actually responded or even moved to hug him back, "I thought the worst when the knocks stopped coming through the…"

Horror dawned on him, slowly and gently but with enough force that he wouldn't have to worry about her falling; Sephiroth pushed Eisa back and stared at her with wide, fearful eyes. "No" he said, shaking his head and placing a hand upon her cold cheek, "Please no…Eisa, its okay. He's not here…you don't have to do this"

Still no response, not even the flicker of recognition in her eyes. It couldn't be possible, he told himself, trying to keep the panic from rising to much in his heart, "Please Patheolon! It's me…its Sephiroth, your big brother" he pleaded again, aware that tears were running down his face but unable to stop them.

The girl who looked like Eisa just stared at him with curious eyes, blinking at him with no understanding as to who he was or why he was here. Sephiroth felt his heart literally break in two at he stared at her, before closing his eyes and saying, "You're not there anymore are you? Oh Eisa…I'm so sorry…I was meant to protect you and look what I've allowed to happen"

Eisa stared at the boy opposite her, the course silver hair tangled in knots even though it had been viciously attacked by a pair of scissors. He was weeping like a baby, not caring if anyone thought it was weak of him and even though she had no idea as to who he was, she felt a pang of something within her heart. Reaching out, she caught one of the longer wisps of hair and tugged on it hard. Sephiroth looked up at her with startled eyes, not comprehending what she was doing in the slightest.

It was then that he recalled a time when she was a baby and had done the same thing, even though he knew it was pointless he tried not to hope for anything as he tentively asked, "Eisa?"

The girl stopped tugging and released the strands before looking away from him and focusing on something else. When she turned back merely a minuet later, she jumped and backed away, having no clue as to who this guy was or what was going on. Sephiroth sat back on his haunches and sighed, wiping away the tears with the back of his tattered sleeve before standing and walking back towards the door.

Hojo came through, looking furious but before the mad scientist could speak a word of outrage, Sephiroth just silently shook his head. "You've done this to her…she doesn't remember a thing and probably never will. I hope you are happy you bastard"

That night he let the cold metal of the wall on his back sink into his mind and numb all the sensations there. There was no one to comfort him in the slightest, Vincent having been dragged out of his own cell mere seconds after he had returned with the same purpose and so far he had not returned. Sephiroth already knew the result, knew how much it would devastate the other man and how much it was threatening to break him. Looking up at the ceiling, tears still falling down his face, Sephiroth did something that he had never done properly in his life before.

He prayed.

The words were meaningless, that much he knew now, but hopefully out in the cosmos someone would at least take a little pity on him and his family. It was all he could do to hope.


	27. Poison

**What If**

Disclaimer: Got the idea yet?

**Poison**

"Why are you unable to make her remember?" Hojo stormed about the room, unaware of the fact that Vincent had stopped paying attention to him a long time ago and was busy dealing with his inner demons.

"It makes no sense!" Chaos was screaming, "The girl's completely and totally fine, I can still sense her sitting across the room from us right now"

Hellmasker sighed, "That's not the point though is it? Even we can see that it's Eisa sitting across the room but only in body…her soul's corrupted"

"But there's no creature alive today that could do such a thing" Chaos glared at the white object which Vincent had come to learn was Eisa. He still found it strange inside his own head with the others but had at least managed to keep his body in a relatively relaxed position.

Giga lumbered upright, "What bout that thing?"

The others were surprised by this question out of the electrode induced monster; normally he had trouble putting together a three word sentence let alone a coherent question. Chaos just sighed, shaking his head, "The Calamity is within the boy…the girls protected"

"Injections" Giga replied automatically.

"That was Mako" Hellmasker pointed out, "Mako is not the same as the Calamity"

"Not green injection…blue one" Giga said, lumbering over to the girl to point at something which Vincent couldn't see.

Galian bounded forward, sniffed the substance and then lopped off towards the tank which Sephiroth had mentioned on many occasions, saying that a horrid voice came out of it. Vincent had hoped that it was not what he feared but the way his demons were talking – well all excluding Galian who seemed to have the communication skills of a dog – it was clear that it was indeed the case.

"That little…" Chaos fumed before settling down, "No…something else is going on here. Eisa would be stronger if it were purely her"

Vincent frowned, suddenly recalling Lucy. She had received the same sort of injections as Eisa and from what he recalled, though it had been in a hazy side of things as his subconscious had just floated around the old mansion, she to had become weak and ill with the stuff.

Coming back to the real world, he looked towards his daughter and moved towards her, gently taking hold of the arm where the injections would be given. It was frightening just how easy it was to find the entry points, the black bruising that ran the length of her arms had turned white around them and a shudder went through his system. "It's poisoning you" he whispered in the hope of not being heard by Hojo, "It's not helping you, it's killing you…the Mako's killing you"

Pulling Eisa into a hug, he held her tightly and whispered something in her ear, hoping that one day it would come back to her when she needed it. The darkness was taking his little girl away from him and he was willing to do anything to get her to safety.

_Anything you say? _a sweet intoxicating voice came into his head, sounding far to sugar and honey coated for his liking but by the way Chaos reacted within him, maybe it was his only chance to get Eisa out of this mess, _I'm interested to hear your terms. _


	28. Lost Children

**What If**

Disclaimer: Still don't own, not in the slightest

Authors note: These next series of chapters are all interlinked, was going to do them as one big chapter but changed my mind and decided to break them up a little bit. Hope you enjoy and reviews much appreciated and received.

**Lost Children**

Vincent woke to a soft tapping sound in the early hours of the morning, vaguely aware that he was still inside the lab. His vision was hazy from whatever had been done to him the previous day and all he wanted to do was sleep but it seemed that the fates weren't going to be that charitable tonight. The tapping sound came again and he turned him head, squinting at the image but barely recalling who the figure was. The green swirl wasn't helping in the slightest, obscuring the colours even further than he had expected it to. Suddenly he trashed out, trying to break the glass in front of him as his brain registered that he was in a tank filled with Mako. Not a place he ever wanted to wake up in ever again.

The figure moved to one side, obviously trying to deactivate the machine but being repelled back by something there. Vincent hadn't felt as useless in his life as he banged on the glass, desperate to break through it but finding himself completely unable to do so. The figure outside seemed undecided as to what to do and looked around desperately for anyone that could help him. Of course there was no one because he had been assigned to just watch the man in the tube before the Turks came to transport him away along with one of the other subjects. There was something horribly cold about being in the room with the strange floating man, but Cloud had tried to push his thoughts aside and just continue on with his duty.

But that had changed when Vincent, or more correctly Chaos but the blond haired cadet didn't know such things, had suddenly started scratching on the glass in an attempt to weaken it. Naturally Cloud had tried to ignore it but got to curious for his own good and decided to do something which he knew Zack would do. Tap on the glass. This only worsened the situation and made the young cadet worried that something horribly bad was about to happen. The doors whooshed open and quickly Cloud returned to his station, hoping that no one would have noticed that he had left it.

Hojo strode in, followed by a couple of assistants who were dragging a girl with shoulder length black hair and bright red eyes along after them. She wasn't resisting their attempts to do so, more just not moving and acting rather like a rag-doll. They deposited her on the ground when instructed and even though he wasn't supposed to take any notice, Cloud couldn't help but glance towards the girl who just sat there lifeless. He noticed the bruising, scars and trails of tears which had created two white lines down her usually tanned features. Even like this, barely three years after he had last seen her, Cloud recognised the girl as Eisa. One of the friends that Zack had been forced to watch being captured when Gonaga was searched.

However there was something far more pressing in the eyes of the blond, something which he knew spelt trouble for all but why completely eluded his conscious brain. The girl's arms and part of her right leg was covered in a long dark black bruise which seemed to twist its way around the muscle and flesh as if it was a strange entity. He had seen plenty of bruises whilst training, so he knew a thing or two about them but this was completely alien. Normally bruises just looked like black and blue blobs that stayed still until they became smaller and eventually faded. If anything this thing looked like it was growing, becoming bigger and more deadly by the passing second. Hojo and the scientists were conversing, hardly paying any attention to him so he decided to take a risk and lean down close to the girl.

"Are you all right?" he asked, hoping that she would turn towards him despite how quiet he was keeping his voice at that precise moment in time. The girl didn't even flinch, her head hung low and eyes fixed firmly on the floor. Or maybe they were closed, it was impossible to tell. A loud bang behind him cause Cloud to turn around, the man – Vincent if he recalled rightly from Zack's description of him – was yelling something behind the glass and desperately appearing to try and break it. It was a worrying thing indeed and the cadet rose, locking eyes with the dangerous red and yellow mix before shaking his head slightly.

Without really thinking what he was doing, Cloud mouthed the words "We're going to get you out of here" to the man but couldn't tell if Vincent understood or not. Mentally he glanced up at the clock, hoping that everything would go to plan but brought back to the situation at hand by Hojo's abrupt questioning of, "What are you doing?"

Cloud indicated Eisa with a tilt of his head, "Sir. I thought the girl was going to be sick so I went to check on her sir" he said automatically. He was pretty sure that the other wouldn't believe him and was rather surprised when the scientist came across and forcibly raised the girl's head which caused a hiss to escape her mouth. After a couple of seconds looking at her, the man released her and wiped his hands disdainfully on a cloth handed to him by one of the assistants.

The glare was enough to tell Cloud all he needed to know and he went back to his duty silently, praying to any deity out there that the risky plan would work.

Zack's words had only been the top ten per cent of the iceberg when it came to this situation.

Snapping the PHS closed in frustration, Zack continued his way around the barracks as carefully as possible, hoping that no one would stop and question him as to what he was up to this time. Granted most of his comrades wouldn't even bat an eyelid at him being around the first class quarters at this time of the evening, but there was still a chance that some upstart may just thing he was up to one of his old tricks again. Granted he really wished he was this time but it most certainly wasn't and to add insult to injury the lie he told would be added to the file marked 'deserter' or even worse 'traitor'. Two words that he never wanted to ever be called but he was pretty close to doing so now.

However at least he wouldn't be alone, he was going to save his two oldest friends in the world – and their father – and get the hell out of Shinra before they could even work out what had happened to them. Everything had been set up, organised and finalised with the help of Avalanche at Seventh Heaven and all he had to do now was get his stuff ready and be prepared when the distraction began. The only problem was that right this second he couldn't find two of his fellow conspirators, Cloud was tactfully assigned to Hojo's labs, but Angeal and Genesis had not turned up at the agreed meeting place which had Zack worried.

He'd waited for a fair amount of time before even attempting to ring either of them, but upon receiving nothing but the cold electronic voice of the network telling him that neither PHS was in use at the moment nor to try again later, fear had struck deep within his heart. So he was heading to the one place that they could be at this time of night and hoping that nothing untoward would happen on the way. Thankfully it didn't and he was surprised when the door to their room opened up remarkably easily as he knocked on it.

Stepping in, he stared around and tried to figure out just what was going on. The place looked like it hadn't been touched in years, which had him highly worried indeed but it was all clean and sterile. He checked the draws, the cupboards and the kitchen areas to find absolutely nothing. Even the bathroom looked immaculate which was pretty good going considering most SOLIDER bathrooms ended up looking like something out of a horror movie.

"What the hell guys?" he asked quietly before grabbing his PHS again and dialling a number which Angeal had given him just before he had left to go to Midgar all those years ago. The raven haired man virtually jumped out of his skin when he heard the ringtone in the room with him and quickly he spotted it on a bedside cabinet. Actually it was hidden in the small useless, in Zack's opinion, alcove which explained why he had missed it the first time around.

Walking over, he fished the phone out before flipping it open and just catching the scrap of paper that fell out of the closed metal. Carefully he opened it and stared in horror at the written words, hastily done and no where near as scrawled as Angeal's writing usually was.

All it said was five words which explained everything and nothing at the same time.

_Don't look for us Zack. _

Glancing up at the ceiling, as if it would give him some form of answer, Zack frowned at the ominous dark stains on the otherwise dull white surface. Looking down at the carpet he noticed that a couple of sections were several shades lighter as if something had been cleaned up.

Backing out slowly, he closed the door and pocketed the phone. He didn't know the details of what had happened but guessed that if he and Cloud were caught then they would suffer the same retribution as well. Gulping he turned and quickly headed away, knowing that this was going to be the only chance he was ever going to get.


	29. Bedtime Stories

**What If**

Disclaimer: don't own FFVII at all and also don't own 'The Golden Goose', nicked it from .

Authors note: Thought I would have a bit of twisted fun with this chapter.

**Bedtime Stories**

Elmyra blinked sadly at the sight of her adopted daughter sitting by the fire, praying to the forces that only she could see and hear. It broke her heart, almost as badly as the time the tiny sprig of a girl had come wandering down the stairs to inform her that her husband had passed on and did not want her to grieve. Such hardships were ones to be expected but even now the tears would prick at her eyes occasionally. Still she understood why Aerith was praying tonight, they both were aware of Zack's insane plan and how he had managed to find Avalanche but it was still a dangerous risk. One with good intentions but one that could also get led astray rather quickly.

Stepping up behind the girl, Elmyra placed a comforting hand on her shoulder before kneeling down next to her to pray as well. It wasn't exactly her usual occupation, she hadn't prayed since he husband went away but tonight she was more than willing to believe that maybe there was something out there that would listen to the prays of all of those who were dealing with this situation and for once they would do something to ensure that fatalities could be removed.

There was silence in the home, just the crackling of the fire but for Aerith it was more than enough. Somewhere deep inside her head she heard the soft whisperings, the ones she could never quite understand and didn't ever really have much need to. They were emotions, imprints of the past that lingered on even after the ghosts had long departed. Normally they made her smile, or guided her to the church which no one ever used these days for simple tasks of praying and release from the world. But tonight there was worry and fear in the voices; something disturbing their usual slumber and the ancient wasn't sure how to understand it.

Thankfully her mother was by her side, offering her own prays and she could hear the voices of others nearby. People who knew her rather renegade boyfriend and his current madcap plan, all of whom were consciously or unconsciously sending out messages to the lifestream in the hope that it would respond and make their endeavour work well. Aerith had wanted to join the small group, determined to help out because she knew the layout pretty well after Hojo had invited her there once before but Zack was adamant that she stay well out of it.

It wasn't because he didn't believe she could fight, the amount of times she had successfully smacked him around his pretty head with her staff was proof enough of that, but he had told her that he simply didn't want to risk her life. She was precious to him, maybe to a little too much and if everything went wrong he did not want to see her in the hands of Shinra. Aerith had tried to argue the point that Cloud was involved but Zack had just grinned at her in _that _way which made her heart melt whilst he said, "Well Spiky has the slight advantage of being able to threaten to report my actions to the higher ups".

So she was now sitting, praying that everything would go according to plan and that Zack would be able to keep his promise and free the people within the lab. Aerith wanted to strangle him completely for such actions, not because they weren't noble or anything of the sort, but she was sure that there was an alternative route he could take, something which would make this whole process a whole lot easier but he had said he had considered all the options available and this was the best one. Since when charging in with a terrorist group – as Shinra had dubbed them – armed to the teeth had been the best course of action, Aerith did not know but she was powerless to change the others mind and no one else was able to get through to his rather thick but lovable scull this time either.

Mentally she sighed to herself, wondering _what if Zack hadn't known Sephiroth as a child. Would that change anything?_

The fire suddenly spultered into life, changing from the warm yellows to the liquid and calming green of the lifestream whilst a gentle but rather chilly breeze caressed her body. Staring at the fire with confusion, Aerith found herself staring at a world completely different from her own with many great and horrible battles looming over them. She saw people dying; saw an infectious disease running through the children of the planet, saw peoples hopes being dashed by long swords and a young man ripped from himself to become a creature who did not know himself completely. A man in a long black coat with long silver hair haunted the images, wickedly green eyes narrowing and a masumune ending the lives of many as he learned exactly what had been done to make him all those years ago. Fire scorching through a town in the middle of no where, tears of innocents and blood all over the place. Betrayal, traitor and curse of the world coming up so many times that she didn't know what this all meant. Then there was a sudden image, brief in time there but so harsh and vivid that Aerith screamed and flung herself away from the fire and the lifestream, not wanting to see those two separate images ever again.

She didn't become aware of the tears or the frantic screaming that she had been doing for quite some time, not until Elmyra had taken her shakily upstairs and proceeded to tell her a old stupid story which had always calmed her down when she was a child. The horror of it all still sat heavy on her heart and she simply wanted to wish it all away and feel nothing but the quiet nothingness of the world of dreams and sleep once again.

_Please, mother planet, protect Zack and all those who fight for you. _

"Right" Barrett said, lifting his daughter into bed for the fifth time that night and firmly tucking her in before sitting on the edge with a rather worn, battered and read one to many times book, "Now you just sit yerself there and pay attention whilst I read"

Marlene giggled, automatically trying to wriggle out of the covers but her 'father' had long ago learned how to tuck the blankets under the mattress so that no budding five year old could escape from them easily. Barrett sighed, shaking his head before opening the cover and starting to read in his rather gruff accent, "You've probably never heard the story of Thaddeus, the woodcutter. To some, Thaddeus seemed as much a dreamer as he was known to be good hearted.

Thaddeus was sent to the forest to chop down some trees. This particular forest was one that Thaddeus had never visited and each tree was harder then the last to chop down. When it was time for lunch, Thaddeus sat on the stump of a tree and wiped his face with a kerchief, for he was hot and tired.

Suddenly a strange man with a white beard walked into view and asked Thaddeus for something to eat. Being a very kind young man, Thaddeus provided a cheese sandwich and he gave the man a drink

"Of all the woodcutters that have tried to chop down these trees, you're the first one who has ever been nice to me," the old man said with a smile. "You deserve a reward."

"Can I have a reward Daddy?" Marlene asked, giggling as he ruffled her long hair which had been taken out of it's usual pony-tail in the long bedtime ritual that Barrett was no longer a stranger to. Technically speaking it was Tifa's job to put the errant child to bed when he had a job on but tonight he wanted to ensure that he was with his daughter so that she could talk of him proudly in the future should the worst happen.

It was a harsh thing to be thinking, but Barrett prided himself on being a practical man, though granted half of the time he wasn't exactly the best example of that. "If you go straight to sleep afterwards then you can" he said before refinding his place on the page.

"Thaddeus was about to tell the man that he didn't need a reward when the man spoke once more, "If you cut down that tree in the centre of the wood, you'll find that all the others will fall down without the need to swing you axe one more time. When the tree is cut, you should look in its roots and there will be a gift for you! I know because I am the Wizard of the Woods!"

Thaddeus was a trusting young man and he was not surprised by what the man had said and he did as he was told. In a flash, Thaddeus chopped down the tree.

In the middle of the tree roots, Thaddeus saw a golden goose waiting to be held. Thaddeus slipped the bird under his arm and began walking home. Now, it may be that Thaddeus was new to these parts, but the young man lost his way.

Late that night, Thaddeus reached a strange village. The innkeeper's caf was still open, so the woodcutter went inside.

"I would like something to eat for myself and for the Golden Goose that the Wizard of the Woods gave me," he said to the innkeeper's daughter."

Marlene yawned but quietly asked, "Can I have a golden goose one day daddy?"

"Yes, if you be silent and let me finish the story" Barrett said, knowing that if it had been one of the others interrupting him then he would have blown a fuse at them but with it being his little Marlene he didn't mind that much. Talk about playing favourites, he mentally scolded himself.

"When the food was brought to the table, Thaddeus said to the goose, "That's a bite for me and a bite for you."

The innkeeper's other two daughters came to see the man with the goose. "Why are you so kind to a goose?" one of them asked

"Ah, this is a magic goose," replied Thaddeus, "and worth a fortune. I have decided to stay here tonight. I certainly don't want to be robbed."

However, during the night, one of the sisters tried to steal at a single goose feather. "If it's a magic bird, then one of its feathers will be precious too!" she thought, but the exact moment her hand touched the goose's tail, it became stuck to the goose, and there was nothing to unstick it. In a low voice, she called her sisters, but when they tried to pull her free, they too became stuck to the goose.

When Thaddeus woke, he wasn't surprised to see the three sisters stuck to the golden goose.

"How can we get free?" they wailed.

But the woodcutter quietly said, "I have to leave with my goose. I suppose you'll just have to come too!"

When the innkeeper saw his daughters walk past, he said "What's going on?"

The innkeeper made the mistake of reaching for his eldest daughter. He too became stuck and found himself walking with his daughters who were all attached to the golden goose."

Giggling on cue, Marlene reached out a hand and said, "I'm stuck to you Daddy!" but Barrett ignored this interruption and continued on with the story, "It wasn't long before the same fate awaited a nosy woman, the baker and a carpenter who also touched the goose by mistake.

People laughed as Thaddeus and his row of followers went by, and crowds soon flocked the roads to see the strange sight.

Thaddeus soon came upon a Royal Palace with his strange group of followers.

The king was very rich and very powerful, but there was something that made him sad. It seems the King's only daughter was very sick and no doctor had been able to cure her.

The King's daughter always seemed very unhappy.

It had been more than a year since the King had proclaimed that the man who succeeded in making his daughter laugh could marry her. However, no one had had even been able to make the Princess smile.

As Thaddeus walk through the village square with his goose, the innkeeper's daughters, the inn keeper, the baker, the nosy woman and the carpenter - the Princess was also driving down the same street.

The Princess heard people laughing and stopped to see what was going on. The very moment she saw the unusual sight, she began laughing. The princess laughed so hard, tears began to form in her eyes.

Everyone in the village stopped what they were doing so they could listen to the enchanting laughter of the Princess. No one could ever remember hearing her laugh before."

Barrett looked to his daughter, seeing a sleepy smile on her features and she tried a giggle but she broke out into a loud yawn. He chuckled in response and shook his head, "The Princess wanted a closer look at the golden goose which is how she became stuck to the carpenter. Soon the entire group was laughing and talking as they made their way to the palace.

The King saw the Princess laughing and found it hard to believe it was true. "This is a miracle!" he said.

But the King, being a very smart ruler, noticed how serious it would be to have his daughter stuck to a goose for the rest of her life.

He sat thinking about the difficulties when a man with white beard stepped forward and snapped his fingers three times.

Suddenly, Thaddeus and the others were unstuck.

Certainly this strange event was the work of the Wizard of the Woods, but the white haired man had vanished as quickly as he arrived and the only thing Thaddeus knew to do was to accept the King's offer to marry the Princess. All in all, it had been a very good day."

"Could I…marry…?" Marlene started to ask before she fell finally asleep, clutching a chocobo plushi and appearing so innocent that Barrett couldn't help but wish, not for the first time, that everyone could just be like his beautiful little daughter. Standing up, he pressed a kiss against her forehead and sighed, "Just you wait Marlene, history's going to be made tonight and you'll have the best bragging rights as yer daddy was involved"

Quietly he left the room, sending out a prayer that this would work and noting bad would ever happen to his lovely daughter. Being a father was a hell of a lot of hard work.


	30. What Happened?

**What If**

Disclaimer: Don't own, never claimed to and never will

Authors note: heh I've had a bit of a brain far of late with this story, curse of planning it to much so this is just a short bit that I wrote for it, hopefully it'll kick start my brain again – or maybe I just need to play the game or something again I'm unsure. Anyway please review cause my muse is refusing to co-op at the moment and I really need to get it kicked into gear.

**What Happened?**

By now, Sephiroth thought he would be used to silence. The way that it echoed back at him from all levels of his life, the silence of the room around him, the rarely broken silences of his father and a horrid loss of his sister to her own form of the same thing. But he still could never get used to it, it dragged him back to unhappy memories of times he claimed to have no real memory of, the bitter accusing silence which drained all of his energy and allowed that _thing_ to talk to him. He hated that more than the silence, a soft voice which spoke to him in the darkest recesses of his mind. He had lived with it for years, never speaking about it to anyone even though he knew fine well that it would probably be in his best interests to do so but something warned him that it would just be another problem to add to the growing number he had.

What was really annoying him about this particular bout of silence was that there was nothing to account for it. He knew that his father had been taken to be experimented on once again but that didn't explain why Eisa wasn't there. Granted sometimes she forgot where she was but he couldn't feel her presence in the slightest, just the cold gunmetal of the room which wasn't warming up even though he was pacing back and forth inside it. Pausing in the dead centre, a sickening feeling went through his heart and stomach which had him running for the door. "No!" he yelled desperately, banging his hands against the metal so much that they blistered and bled, "let me out! Someone! Anyone!"

The sounds of gunshots continued, despite his screams.


	31. Sanctuary

**What If**

Disclaimer: don't own FFVII at all

Authors note: Heh took my time with this one but life was a bit hectic for the last couple of weeks and I kinda couldn't think of where to take this story even though I had it all planned out. Worst thing I can do with fanfictions methinks. So anyway, here's the next chapter and it's jumped again but hopefully in an interesting way. Please forgive any cannon spelling mistakes and also the fact that I couldn't recall any of the monsters near the area mentioned that did those sorts of attacks and since I'm in no position what so ever to check on the games without playing for ten plus hours I just went with the first one that came to mind. Anyway going to shut up now and let ya read so enjoy.

**Sanctuary**

The smell of decaying wood, worn but well used furniture and a slight tickerlish sensation of thick wool which had been rung through the dryers one to many times pleasantly assaulted Aerith's senses and for a fleeting moment she thought that she was back home in her mothers lovely little house in the middle of sector five. Then a prang of pain shot through her stomach, reminding her that she was no where near that dirty and musty city which had once been home. Throwing the blankets aside, the girl staggered haphazardly forward, desperately seeking something to discharge the contents of her stomach into but her vision swirled around dangerously. With a half-yell she lost her balance, banged her head off the side of some piece of wood and was promptly sick on the floor.

She heard the sounds of running feet and felt a strong pair of arms wrap themselves around her body but she had no idea as to who they belonged to in the slightest. However their warmth and gentleness was enough to reassure her that they were finally safe, everything was under control for the first time in five years. Someone was speaking to her but the words came out as just a dull tone and her vision swirled once more before she finally passed back out against the chest of the man who was holding her. _He smells like parsley _her subconscious mind thought before it to passed into the beautiful silence of a deep slumber.

Heading down the stairs, Lorenzo waved a calming hand in the direction of his one companion in the world with a sigh which sounded far older than the twenty years he possessed. "She's going to be okay, the stuffs still not out of her system though what the hell this lot were doing out on the plains without any proper healing potions…" he caught the look in the others eyes and shook his head, "All right no need to go reminding me of that little escapade Loki"

The girl smiled, turning back to the fire and her current batch of needlework. It still looked like a massive patchwork of snatched pieces of cloth, badly knitted sections and the remains of his old jacket but truth be told he was glad to see the damn thing being used for something these days. He shook off the memories that attempted to raise themselves up in his head and went about checking on the other patients who had fallen into their lives. Literally as well.

Lorenzo wondered briefly what Shinra and his cronies would think if they ever came to realise that the whole of AVALANCE were currently recovering from a rather bad case of toxin inhalation and virus digestion after they had battled a chimera on the flat lands near the small and often disregarded town that was Neilbleheim. Why they were doing so was a complete mystery to the young man but there was no way that he would have abandoned them to a very painful death. Granted he had to go back twice to gather the small group but Corel wasn't herself these days and was starting to show signs of being on the way out.

It practically broke his heart to think that silly pink chocobo wouldn't be around forever, he had hoped that she would survive well past his own life time but it appeared that it was not to be. Though at least she had finally mated with that pale blue one Loki had found and raised, which was something to look forward to indeed.

Making his way into the kitchen, stepping over a snoring Barrett and a groggy looking Zack, Lorenzo had to smirk to himself. After the events of five years ago they were all here, completely unaware of how close they had come to death and had been saved by the two most un-likest people in the world. Even Loki had found some humour in the situation though he knew all to well that she barely remembered a thing. Still at least she wasn't locked away to the world now, granted she still had the habit of rarely talking but he had come to accept that as one of her quirks and it definitely didn't stop her expressing emotions.

Putting the rather battered kettle on the stove, Lorenzo caught his reflection in the mirror and shuddered slightly. Sometimes he forgot just how much he had been forced to change whilst they hid in plain sight but at the right angle it was still possible to see the terrified child that he had once been. Still was to a certain extent. He sighed, biting back the tears and mentally scolding himself for even thinking about the past.

Smooth arms wrapped around his body, causing him to jump ever so slightly but he looked down to find Loki had taken up her usual position of being firmly by his side and clinging to him. Even though her head was hung low, now copper coloured hair floating down to cover her eyes which had turned a strange shade of pink over the years, Lorenzo knew that she was trying to bring him back from the brink. He smiled and hugged her back, "I'm not going anywhere, don't worry Loki"

Raising her head, Loki looked deep into his grey eyes before standing on tiptoe and placing a light kiss on his lips. Technically she wasn't meant to do such things but with curtains drawn no one would notice. They're relationship was a secret, covered over with a story about them being distantly related cousins and so far no one had questioned them in the slightest.

Sighing, the white haired youth wanted to pull her deeper but a harsh coughing from somewhere nearby reminded him that they were not alone. "Guess I get to play nursemaid again" he said ruffling her hair and going to step towards whomever was busy coughing their guts out but she stopped him from doing so. Then promptly gave him a rough shove towards the back door as if to say 'go and check on Corel and Ivy, before you go mad'.

He would've protested but knew that it was a pointless exercise and left with a slight wave to let her know that if she needed him that all she had to do was call. Shaking her head slightly, Loki sighed and put her hands on her hips for a couple of seconds, mentally thinking the sentence but not saying it out loud.

"Here drink" a soft, rather scratchy voice said to Zack as he finally stopped coughing up his guts. His vision was a little hazy but he could just make out the glass of liquid in front of him and without thinking he grabbed it and tried to gulp it down like he hadn't had a drink in weeks.

"Easy" came the voice again, reprimanding but caring like a mother and some part of his brain registered the unspoken words of 'or else you'll be sick again'. Drinking more carefully, his dulled senses finally clicked to the fact that it was milk which was being carefully poured down his throat and it had been laced with something though what was anyone's guess. Finishing the glass, he leaned his head back against the wood of the bedpost and frowned as he tried to clear his vision.

After a couple of minuets he clicked to the fact that he was in a house, which was potentially a good thing but there was nothing else to indicate as to where they were or whom had taken them in. From what he could see it was a simple little affair, rather worn down and in desperate need of repair but pleasantly roomy considering it was currently housing around six or seven people.

"Where's?" he asked after a couple of minuets, his mental head count having to be repeated more than once because he kept on counting Barrett twice for no real reason.

There wasn't a response for a few seconds but then the girl who had given him the milk was kneeling by her side and gently whipping his mouth. For a second he thought he recognised her and nearly said hello before another bout of nausea took him. Once it was cleared, he looked at the girl again with her copper hair, pink eyes and rather faded looking summer dress but couldn't place where he had seen her before. Instead of dwelling on the fact, he returned to his previous question, "Where's the?"

Casting her eyes down, the girl simply shook her head before raising silently and heading off to the kitchen again with some intention or other. He didn't need words to know what had happened to Jessie, Briggs and Wedge. He was pretty lucky to have survived that attack but it was still a big blow to take. After all they had gone through to have three lives snuffed out all because of a stupid monster was a very hard pill to swallow.

"don't worry" said the girl returning to his side with a faint smile which reminded him of long summer afternoons and a white kitten plushi, "they are happy and hold nothing against you"

Zack looked at her, trying to understand how she knew what he was thinking but found his mind clogged with other thoughts. He sighed before shaking his head, "I'm Zack. What's your name?"

"Loki" she said with a bright smile before rushing off to deal with a choking Tifa.

Zack sighed and leaned back; he remembered that smile but had no idea as to why he did. At least they had found somewhere that was safe, even if it were only for a little while.

End note: Prize for guessing who Lorenzo and Loki are, even though it's bluntly obvious lol.


	32. Pretend

**What If**

Disclaimer: as for all the other chapters I don't own anything that belongs to Square or anything else that crops up.

Author's note: A bit of a strange one this, even I'll admit that. Though it was interesting to write which is a good thing. Hope you enjoy it.

**Pretend**

There was the sound of metal on metal, a key being turned in the old lock and slowly Sephiroth lifted his head. The door to the cell opened and for a fleeting moment he thought he saw a familiar mop of spiky blond hair but it transpired to be nothing more than one of the many damned assistants coming in to register his vitals or take blood or do whatever the hell it was to him that they seemed to do with obnoxious time keeping. The only advantage was that it gave him a chance to work out the approximate time of day but half of the time he could barely concentrate enough to work out such mundane things.

With only the slightest of hisses as yet another needle was stabbed into his arm, Sephiroth mentally prepared himself for the inevitable pain that would come. He didn't need to see the green liquid in the tube to know what it was, it gave off such a reek that it was impossible not to notice it. However he was slightly surprised to feel no burning or intense pain after it was carefully removed and mentally groaned. Boosters again, which meant he would be forced to fight the young cadet. Hojo had always been a sick and twisted bastard but this was getting beyond a joke.

Fighting simulations were pretty normal in Shinra, it was a lot easier way to train up your men without killing them all off but when the safety levels were removed and the damage bloody real it was not a pretty picture. Not in the slightest. Especially when he was giving all sorts of boosters, vitamins, strength and speed modifiers whilst Cloud was generally shot full of blasted Mako, driven half mad with fear, hunger and pain and thrown at him with no real possible chance of understanding what the hell was going on.

'Still,' Sephiroth reflected bitterly, 'this is just the first round of the horrid things. I'll be able to warn him of what's to come'

_I wouldn't count on it my dearest one _came the soft and honey coated voice which always sent a stab of fear through his entire body which would immediately cause the extensive black bruising to burn with unpleasant heat. The stuff covered most of his upper body now, his shoulders and torso were riddled with the long black tendrils whilst his spin tingled with the heat running straight down it, almost as if the alien body were trying to wrap itself around the series of bones and dive into his nervous system. It hurt like hell and there was nothing he could do about it. The Professor looked at is as just a rejection of tissue mass and wouldn't do a thing about it, whereas the voice in his head just kept on tormenting him and offering to take the pain way.

_Shut up! _He yelled as loud as he could in his head.

The voice came back in that sickly tone which always made Sephiroth desperately wish to be back in his mother's arms; _Aww is the little boy missing his play mate? I can give you the power to get him back, the power to stop all the experimenting and the pain that he goes through…_

_I told you to shut up you old hag! _Sephiroth usually ignored the voice until it got bored and disappeared off to whatever hell it had come from but was not in the mood to do so today, _all you promise is death and destruction and I will not be your puppet. _

_We shall see, dearest one, you have far more potential in you that even the Professor realises. I can unlock that potential and give you the power to stop all the hatred in the world, to stop this world dying_ the voice was trying to appeal to Sephiroth's kindness but the young man stubbornly refused to listen anymore, _I can give you everything you want. Even those things from those sweet dreams that you share so diligently with the boy and the ones you don't. I can give you a family…_

_I already have one! It's not destroyed and it'll only expand once I'm out of here _the bitterness in Sephiroth's tone was usually enough to get rid of the voice but the bloody thing seemed to be on a rather persistent streak today. Oh the joys.

_But it's gone, can't you see that. Together we would…_

"Get the hell away from me!" Sephiroth shouted out loud, startling the assistant as he pulled forcibly away from the latest injection that she had been about to administer and backing up towards the wall. He hadn't meant to do what he had just done, it never led to anywhere good but there was no chance in high hell that he was going to sit and listen to that whiney cow going on in his head for the next three or four hours. The heat intensified around his body and he knew that he had just gone and really pissed it off but that didn't mean a thing.

The joint glares of the assistant and the two bodyguards was enough to tell him that he was in serious trouble though they were well used to him trying to reject the injections that were forced into him. A quick glance to the far side of the wall told him that he must have struck the syringe and sent it flying, the smashed glass and gloopy mess that was supposed to be inside his body had somehow managed to form a rather odd looking pattern that appeared to be squished smiley face. Not the best thing to be thinking right now but Sephiroth didn't really care anymore; after all he would have other things to deal with in the next couple of seconds.

The assistant pursed her lips, "Are you deliberately refusing the injections?"

"What do you think?" Sephiroth had no idea where he had managed to summon up that amount of scorn from but hell it would make this day a little different from the rest, even if the punishment would just be the same as it always had been. Though it would give him a little training for the damn fight simulation in the next few days came another bitter thought.

One of the guards, a hulking brute of a man, stepped forward and smacked him around the side of the head. The slight fizz of electricity told him automatically that this guy would really mean business which could turn into quite a fun situation if they were restrained enough not to use the full power on the EMR's, though the chances of that were about as great as the prospect that Hojo would suddenly die of a heart attack or even better be burned to death in a fire which he had caused himself. "Answer the question, runt!" the gruff man said, not a Turk thankfully but that was a minor thing to worry about.

Plus how dare he call him a runt, the guy must have been at least a foot shorter than him height wise. Berth was a completely different matter of course but this wasn't the time to be choosey. On a mad impulse, as one of the things his father had always told him when it came to battles was that generally the one who read the opponents moves quicker would win, Sephiroth kicked out at the bodyguard and managed to floor the hulking idiot. Without waiting for the other two to respond, he threw himself up and sent a punch flying towards the other one, who was virtually a twig in a suit. The pair must've looked like Laurel and Hardy in the morning exercises but right now Sephiroth was using his only advantage which was surprise and speed.

Twig reeled backwards, coming mere millimetres out of range of the punch to the face but failed to see the one coming for his stomach and suddenly crunched to the floor with an exasperated groan. The assistant screamed but Sephiroth just shoved her out of the way before running towards the door. It slammed closed in his face, the security systems having activated within seconds of his violent outburst and before he could turn around Brick had slammed into his back and made an attempt to throw him roughly to the floor.

Reacting on instinct, Sephiroth ducked low and kicked out to bring Brick back down to the floor which sent the huge man tottering straight into the path of Twig who unfortunately released ten thousand volts into his back as he had activated his EMR correctly. A gun would have probably been more effective, Sephiroth reflective, trying desperately to work out of way of getting out of this mess with the least amount of physical damage possible, but considering these two goons were just there for enforcement and recapture alive sake it probably wouldn't be that sensible. Twig got up quickly, throwing his little amount of weight into the attack whilst the assistant dug out a potion from her pocket and threw it towards Brick.

Dodging the multiple attacks that came his way, Sephiroth knew that he had the upper hand in this little confrontation and that there was no chance of any back up coming until the security system had been correctly fixed. He couldn't thank the planet enough for Cloud's last outburst which had ended up with the weapon, a makeshift iron pole if he remembered rightly, being shoved deep into the system and completely screwing it up before the Professor had thrown a stop spell at the kid before letting the guards beat him up. Though he could here the shouts of other guards and their frantic fists banging against the firmly closed door as he continued to dodge, duck and strike back with all his might.

However he should have known to keep an eye on the assistant and with a half yell the twenty-five year old suddenly found himself falling painfully to the ground with blood seeping out of his shoulder. Before he could even register the smell of gun smoke or the fact that he had been shot and the bullet was still within his shoulder, Brick was virtually sitting on him whilst Twig was busy tying his hands and feet. Sephiroth struggled and for a second managed to throw Brick off him but immediately felt a kick to his lower gut and felt the still hot metal of the gun press against his temple in warning.

But Sephiroth wasn't one to take warnings and it wasn't until twenty-minuets later when they forced some pills down his throat that the beatings finally stopped. "That should teach you, little runt" Brick said, smacking him one last time around the head so that blood spat out of his mouth, "Don't count on your little friend coming back tonight either…I'm sure the good professor will think of a suitable reason to punish him for this little outburst as well"

Trying to let out a yell, Sephiroth choked on some excess bile and blood before finding himself plunged into sudden darkness. He hated the darkness when he was alone; it brought back to many horrid memories. Tears rolled down his face, mixing with the blood as he cursed himself for being so stupid. If he had just pretended that nothing was going on then he wouldn't be like this and who knew what would happen to Cloud. He closed his eyes in shame, aware that his personal demons were already beginning to creep into the room to torment him. "I'm so sorry Cloud…so sorry. Forgive me, please?"

He was sure that there were more painful ways to die, but the only problem was that since he was already technically dead that was not a readily available option. Vincent cursed his unfortunate immortality which had become a saudid plaything of the villainous scientist who would have fitted perfectly well as a bad guy into any children's cartoon show or even a video game. Sometimes he would lye in the laboratory, or sit if he was permitted to spend some time in the small and compact cage which the git had made for him, and imagine that he was playing the game. In his head it was a creepy haunted house one, with hidden treasures, secret passageways and Hojo as the scheming but in the end totally useless boss who died more and more horrible ways. Being shot was Vincent's personal favourite but there again that was mainly because he had a personal preference of guns as his main weapon in life. What he wouldn't give to have one now but it was virtually impossible to get hold of one for long enough.

His mind wandered back to the pain he was currently feeling as yet another knife was slammed into his back, this one coated with sodium chloride that burned through the wound and inflamed it enough that the assistant hastily removed it and noted the reaction down immediately. Vincent cursed, wishing desperately that something out of the ordinary would happen, like he would be left alone for an entire day without the damned prohibiting collar around his neck like a vice so that he could heal himself properly. As well as getting Chaos to stop whinging at him for five minuets. Of course the latter wouldn't happen for a long time but anything just to have some form of silence again.

'Well why don't you pass out, that usually gives you the piece and quiet that you crave' came Chaos's voice on queue, even though the usual tone was gone because the demon was obviously getting slightly concerned about the physical state of Vincent. It was his body as well.

Vincent sighed, hissing as something decided to jar against his innards before shaking his head, 'You know that doesn't work for either of us. Maybe Hojo will get a new toy to play with soon'

The demon scoffed, 'don't count on it. We're not in Nebilheim you know…the git just keeps on using the telephone systems to check on your progress though I can't figure out what the hell he wants to do with you these days'

Glancing briefly towards the assistants who were taking down notes, his sharpened vision caught the briefest glance of a piece of paper which read something about Mako enhanced controlled creatures which sent a sickening jolt through the man's stomach. Whilst he hadn't seen the interior of any of the reactors, it didn't take too much to guess what was stored in virtually all of them. He shuddered and looked down at the floor. "Lucy…please don't be in there" the smallest of small whispers escaped him before he let out a loud yell as something ran down his back. There were frantic yells and all other senses expect survival and destruction faded into a thick blackness.

The three lab assistants stared at the test subject, watching as the man jolted and convulsed whilst deep purple fur grew out of his very skin and the bones made sickening crunching noises as they reformed themselves. The bravest of the three, a man with short brown hair, grabbed hold of a control unit and pointed it towards the rapidly transforming creature, "Obey my command!" he yelled, pressing the button which would normally send a jolt of electricity through the creatures body which would stop his heart for a couple of seconds before the healing would take place. Unfortunately nothing happened like that in the slightest and the beast that now stood on the table, with the long knives still present in its back, turned its yellow eyes towards them and with a roar leapt at the hapless idiots who had yet to move.

Kind and caring hands woke Sephiroth up with a start and the harsh neon of the florescent light up above caused him to curse briefly before the pain settled down to the normal levels that plagued their lives. At least he wasn't tied up anymore which was a good thing, though his body felt like it would shatter into a thousand pieces should he move to suddenly. "Seph?" a soft voice asked, barely above a whisper but loud enough in this room for him to hear it perfectly well.

Meeting the shockingly blue eyes that always shimmered, Sephiroth immediately moved, pulling the other into a desperate hug and not caring in the slightest about the screams of pain which rippled across his skin. "I'm so sorry Cloud" he said in wutainese, a habit both of them had formed because it mainly pissed off Hojo as he couldn't understand the complex language in the slightest.

There was no response from the small blond, just a tightening of the hold with some muffled sobbing. Sephiroth wanted desperately to check the other over, ensure that there were no infectious wounds or anything like that but knew it would be impossible. Just to be able to hold the younger boy was a mere miracle given what he had probably gone through, considering the state of his clothes. Though now Seph thought about it, the lack thereof. The skin under his fingers was rough, littered with scratches; dirt and grit but still retained some softness and from the way that the other was curling desperately into him there was more to come. Closing his eyes in shame, Sephiroth shook his head, "I didn't mean…" he started.

Those blue eyes cut him off with a sharp glare though there were still tears lingering down the darkened skin, "You ever do that again and I'll kill you myself."

The stab of guilt got worse, "I didn't think…I just…I didn't want you hurt"

"Hurt?" Cloud looked at him like a kicked puppy, well with his spikes more like a kicked chocobo but before the boy could even begin to speak there was the rattle of metal on metal as the door opened.

Sephiroth pulled Cloud close, grim determination set on his features as he was not about to let the other be taken away again. Brick walked in with a sneer on his face, glancing at the two of them, "Time to go, poppets".


	33. Dark Rivers

**Disclaimer: Don't own, never have and never will**

Authors note: Well I haven't update this in like...over a year I think it is but since it's getting some attention over the last few months and I'm ging through another FF phase for my fandom likes I thought I should give it some love and get everything back underway. This chapter kinda fills in what happened in the time jump of a couple of chapters ago cause even I realised that I explained that pretty nafily. 

So here we go with the good stuff

Oh and keep your eyes peeled for an off-shot of this story that shall be called 'Rockets, Dolls, Action Men, Photographs and Memoires' which will cover the first thirteen years of Eisa's life with her big brother. It's going to be pretty fluffy and cute but heh there's always space for that sort of stuff ain't there?

Anyway, read and review to keep the plot bunnies happy okay?

**Dark Rivers**

Shinra HQ, Labs

Hojo hardly appeared to notice the chaos that was going on around him, the fact that the terrorist organisation known as AVALANCHE had suddenly come streaming into the building and was attacking every last guard and assistant who wasn't smart enough to get out of the way. In fact he appeared perfectly calm and unbothered by the whole experience, much more interested in the microscope he was looking in. The slide contained a slither of blood from E1 and he was absorbed in its complexities. Instead of just containing the usual red and white blood cells, with the additional green sparks of Mako and the off white glow that was his beloved Jenova specimen there was something else in there.

Actually there were several different things in the living blood stream. There were dark red cells that moved slower and more purposely, almost impossible to see black ones that zipped long at such a pace it was hard to see them and then there was a small strand of what appeared to be DNA but wasn't quite. It was a perfect line of coloured orbs though isolating it for further investigation had proven to be pretty useless.

At the precise moment that AVALANCHE smashed through his door and activated the security system, Hojo had been far to amazed by comparing the blood to all the other samples he had and finding only mere traces of the same in the others. If he hadn't been experimenting on the girl for all these years then he would have presumed that she wasn't even human, which given these results…

A sudden blast of Lightening destroyed his work and with a rather bored expression he turned around to glare at the group which looked rather menacing and dangerous. He smirked; "Here to save the world or something?" the tone was dry and deadly.

"Where are they?!" came the yelled reply of one of the men with black spiky hair and a solider uniform. It hadn't been stolen by the looks of things which narrowed it down but Hojo wasn't one to keep up with unimportant First Class Soldiers who did crazy and rash things.

"Where are who? I have only my specimens here at the moment and I doubt that they are of any use to you," his finger quietly found a button and pressed it. Only the merest rumbling began to indicate that anything had changed in the lad and a sick smile crossed his face, "Let me guess, you're that silly little AVALANCHE group aren't you? The ones that are determined to save the world from the best thing that ever happened to it?"

"Damn right fool," replied Barrett in his oh so typical form, "But you got the bit wrong about Shinra being the best thing that happened to the planet."

"All you do is destroy everything," came the voice of Jessie, obviously keeping up with her boss.

Tifa cast her eyes about whilst the others continued to talk on, something wasn't right here in the slightest. From her understanding of Zack's information, the three specimens were supposed to be either trapped in the prison cells or else locked up in the lab. There was no one in the cells, it had been the first place that they checked out after dispatching the guards and clearly there was no one here. A stab of fear suddenly shot through her system and with timing that would have impressed even the most skilled master in the world, her hand shot out with a plume of red flame and struck the monster which had loomed out of the glass chamber in the centre of the lab. "We've been had!" she yelled, turning around with her Martial arts training to throw another fire blast at Hojo who managed to just dodge out of the way of it, "This is a bloody trap!"

Suddenly the entire room erupted around the group as Turks, armed guards, SOLIDERS and countless hired thugs suddenly appeared. Zack frowned but before he could even comment, the group was in a desperate battle for their lives. How could he have been so stupid to fall into such a deadly trap he would never know and certainly didn't want to think about. He slashed at any guard who came to near and blasted away with his scavenged ice materia to cause havoc to the enemy ranks. But he had been a SOILDER far to long and knew fine well that they were outnumbered and far too inexperienced to survive this lot.

Barrett was proving to be highly useful, being naturally taller than most of the group he was able to stand above them and smatter the enemy with a constant spray of bullets though his habit for constantly running through the same three or four lines of cliché was even starting to annoy Zack. Tifa was faring pretty well, considering everything that she had gone through and was beating the living daylights out of guards and men who were far taller and a hell of a lot meaner than she would ever be. Her movements were quick, natural and despite her rather nicely shaped body there was no real sense of her being just a pathetic little girl who was distracting everyone with her appearance. She was genuinely smashing people's noses and just causing utter hell.

Zack's sword sang into battle, cutting down SOLIDERS of his battalion as if they meant nothing to him but in the same heartbeat he knew fine well that he no longer meant anything to them either. He was apart of the Terrorist Group who had apparently murdered millions when they had simply been trying to stop Shinra from destroying everything in the world. The group had been turned into scapegoats, made to be the fear of society instead of being held up as the hero's fighting to save the world and everything in it. But he still understood that they were beaten, no matter what happened from now on.

Vaguely he wondered why Angeal and Genesis had ditched on him but got the feeling that he already knew. They would have seen the holes in his plan a long time ago and were acting the only way that they could. Moving out and hiding, keeping low and choosing the opportune moment to attack. He could only hope that it would be soon but already knew that they weren't coming to the rescue. His thoughts drifted to Cloud as he landed a blow on a young cadet who probably wouldn't be able to use his arm after such a harsh attack and he hoped that the kid was okay. It had been a risk asking him to be on duty with Hojo when the subjects were being moved but Zack had every confidence in the boy. Cloud had to pull through, he just had to pull through and be the hero in that little story.

Suddenly though, Zack began coughing and felt his muscles go slack. He frowned and staggered on with his battling but the blade was far too heavy for him to wield anymore. He heard the thumps of Wedge and Biggs go down, the pained cry as Jessie was splattered with bullets and the call of his name from Tifa as she struck the floor harshly. Barrett grabbed him by his tunic and dragged the man backwards, out of the reach of the last of the guards but pretty quickly they too were falling over onto the cold unforgiving floor.

"What?" Zack managed to stutter even though his body was trying desperately to shut itself down and his vision swam before him. He could make out the figure of Hojo before him; wearing some form of breathalyser and making some comments to someone he couldn't quite see but then felt blackness hit him and knew nothing more.

Shinra HQ

Underground Cells

Pushing himself up, Sephiroth stared around the unfamiliar ragged stone walls and tried to work out what was going on. His fingers ideally brushed the side of his head where a stab of pain confirmed that he had indeed been struck over the head with something but he couldn't remember what exactly. Vaguely he recalled the sounds of gunshots from before and staggered to the door, trying to work out what had happened to him but being completely and totally unable to.

Before he got there though, it opened and a group of people walked in. A female assistant whom he had seen many times before was carrying the injections that he was forced to endure daily but today she was flanked oddly by two hired goons. One was about his size, maybe a little shorter but it was hard to tell in the light but built like a bodybuilder but the type who could easily smash walls with his bare hands. The other looked nothing in comparison to him, he was weedy and sticklike with a sneer on him that made Sephiroth think of a ferret or a weasel. They appeared to be carrying something between them but before Sephiroth even managed to get a good look at the thing, he felt a stab in his arm and cursed as he crumpled to the floor.

The bruise only his back was literally set on fire by whatever had been pumped into his system and he didn't want to think of the meaning of it. He thrashed around, trying to get the stuff out but found that it only ignited the pain more. Sephiroth tried desperately not to yell out loud, tried to hold it all back in and now show the signs of weakness that were coursing through his body but he couldn't.

Then a second injection was administered and after some time his body went limp and refused to respond to his commands to move. The pain was still present, a constant throbbing and stabbing sensation that ran throughout the whole of his soul virtually. His skin was blistering whilst his bones grinded together and the muscles that were supposed to restrain the movements spasmed and reacted in any way that they felt like doing. Pain swelled in his chest, it was hard to breath and for a moment he was sure they had given him something that would kill him. They were finally doing a human thing and putting him to sleep like a broken down dog.

Unfortunately with a third and final injection, Sephiroth found the pain was reduced to nothing more than a dull aching but knew that they weren't going to let him die. He was still far too important to Hojo's research and probably would never get released from it.

As the female assistant left the room, Sephiroth watched as the two hired goons dropped someone onto the floor next to him before also turning and leaving. They were talking in low voices but their sneers were enough of an indication to him that they had dome something to the other to ensure that he couldn't fight back for some time to come.

Twisting his head towards the figure, the first thing he noticed was a lot of golden coloured spikes that reminded him very much of the chicks which he used to raise to earn gil back home. He felt his heart fall at recalling that and looked away briefly before hearing a groan coming from the other and returned his gaze to him. The young cadet was attempting to push himself up off the ground but seemed rather incapable of doing such things. But the amount of blood that was pouring off him at the moment Sephiroth could only guess at just how much he had been beaten. "Hey, don't try to move to quickly…you'll hurt yourself more."

The blond cadet looked up, startled to even find someone else in the cell with him and Sephiroth couldn't help but be captivated by his bright blue eyes. They almost shimmered in the darkness and were so young and innocent. A tremor of fear ran through his body because he knew fine well what Hojo would do to someone like him. It was the same thing that he did to anyone he found that could be useful to his twisted schemes and mad indulgences. "Y-your Se…Sep…" the boy started to try and say but a steady trickle of blood out of the corner of his mouth prevented him saying another word until he spat the vile liquid out of it, "Sephiroth?"

The white haired man wasn't about to correct the way that the cadet had just said him name, it was a rather odd way of hearing it - Sep-hir-oth – but he was curious as to how he knew his name.

"Yes…" he replied quietly, "How did you know?"

"Friends with…" the boy took another deep breath, "Zack. Supposed to save you and Eisa tonight"

Sephiroth closed his eyes, knowing what the ending of that sentence was and already dreading the consequences someone else's actions.

"Sorry," the blond haired cadet replied to the silence and he genuinely sounded upset at the prospect of being unable to help someone out.

Glancing to him, the elder man shook his head, "You did your best…just like that knucklehead will have done. It's more than anyone's done for us in a long while…thank you for trying."

The cadet set his head back down on the stone floor and felt the draw of unconsciousness creeping up on him ever so slowly. "She said to not give up…" he managed to utter out before it became too hard to speak and the blackness hit him. Sephiroth turned and gazed at the cadet, wondering about his words for a few seconds but deciding to leave them as nothing more than what they were.

Though a part of him wondered if they had really come from Eisa or not.

Somewhere on the Midgar Plaines

The convoy moved quickly through the Plaines, easily dispatching any creatures that happened to be running around and seemingly intent on reaching their target. The air horn blasted away to scare off a bunch of brightly coloured birds into the sky whilst some of the infantry took pot shots at them for a laugh. They didn't know any better, they were just the regular grunts who did what they were told and sometimes got lucky with mission allocation. Collectively they were known as Cannon Fodder, so no one was going to berate them for a bit of target practice.

Unknown to the men though, the two loads of precious cargo they were carrying were actually more valuable than anyone would have given them credit for. Of course both had been heavily sedated before being strapped down to a medial table and then encased in a metal box for safety of all concerned but no one really bothered to check what they were either. The convoy for the most part was one long massive protection unit for everything but once they reached the mountains then the split would happen. One group was destined to head off to the Nibleheim Reactor and Labs whilst the other was set to go to one of the deeper tropical Islands that no one could remember the name of.

Thinking that all the threats would be coming from Midgar directly and the occasional wild beast, the troops weren't aware that they were being watched by three sets of very dangerous eyes.

"Hey kid," the man with black hair said watching the convoy move slowly through the gorge to their location, at the point where they would split with their precious cargo, "You sure you want to go through with this?"

"I made a promise which I intend to keep," came the reply from the much younger of the three whose short silver hair had finally been cut back and styled to give him at least an impression of being able to fight. Though of course, Angeal knew fine well that the boy could fight and could stand up to a whole lot. It was a curious circumstance in which the travellers met up, Genesis had been the first to spot the lad on the horizon as they had been in search of a chocobo and mistaken then lad for a farmer since he was walking around with a pink Chocobo.

Of course, since they hadn't exactly made the right approach to the situation i.e. stopping to ask the boy if they could borrow the bird instead of attempting to steal it from him, the pair had ended up getting attacked not only by the boy but also by the bird who definitely didn't like either of them. Thankfully she was now tethered to a tree several miles away and had been munching on the remains of Genesis's coat for the past half an hour.

Loz regarded the other two warily, he really didn't want to be involving other people in his plans at this late stage but having learned that the two parties were splitting it was somewhat of a blessing. Just the only problem was that neither of these two knew who was in which convoy and whilst he desperately wanted to save Vincent first, as the boy saw him as a sort of estranged father figure as he had been the first person in the world to give him some comfort in all the madness and darkness, he knew that it was a fifty fifty chance of getting the right one.

"Ah…as the fair maiden…" Genesis started quoting only to be firmly smacked around the ear by Angeal who gave him a glare which clearly said if he started quoting that blooming book then there was going to be hell to pay. Literally as well.

Glaring at his friend, the other rolled his eyes before sighing and watching as the convoy began its split, "Left or right?"

Loz knew that left would lead back to Nibelheim and right would lead to the Island, he had scouted the land enough to know that much but he wasn't sure which was to go. However a tiny voice in the back of his head, childlike and playful, giggled happily and said _go left. _

"I'm taking the left…you two take the right," he started moving, "With luck we'll meet at the agreed place."

Angeal watched him go for a few seconds before calling, "Hey kid, what's your name?"

"Loz," the boy replied, pausing to glance back and Angeal grinned slightly. Shaking his head the older man had to chuckle as he said, "Find yourself a better one, you're going to need it in the future."

Nodding, even though he didn't quite understand, Loz quickly leapt off the rocks and headed for the first set of trip-wire bombs which had been placed to disrupt the convoy. Genesis couldn't help but frown at his friend but didn't ask the question that was praying on his mind as he could clearly see that the other was fading away. "This part is in their hands now…I'm sure they'll find things hard but they'll make it eventually."

"Hmm" went Genesis one last time, "Shame we're not players in this drama, I would have liked to influenced things a whole lot more."

There was a sudden bright explosion into the darkening sky and both figures disappeared completely from view and had never been there to begin with.

Total chaos quickly filled the remains of the convoy that was heading to Nibelheim and Loz quickly raced through the men barely seen by most and destroying others whenever he was. He knew where his target was and was relieved to find that it was largely still intact. Granted the main body of the truck had been blown off it's chassis but that didn't matter as long as the medical carrier was still intact.

Barrelling through one of the guards who was still in the process of picking himself up, Loz leapt into the metal room and skidded down the slight incline to the pod. The controls were fried, due to the stress they had been put under but a quick stab of the strange electrical arm device he had found over-rode the release mechanism and released the cryostastic field around it.

A figure inside let out a shocked breath of air and immediately Loz's hands were in to help pull the figure out who was definitely going through a hypothermic shock. Settling them down on a seat, he grabbed a syringe from the table and quickly administered the drug, knowing that it was the right one because he had watched his brothers be induced and reawaken the same way so many times before.

"It's okay Vincent," Loz said, quickly glancing around to find something to wrap the other up in for two reasons. First to add some warmth to the rather scraggy looking clothes and secondly to hide the figure from general view.

Of course his actions had been noticed and there was a clambering around the truck as soldiers attempted to secure the specimen lest they become one themselves. Throwing the blanket over the figure, he hoisted it up and started towards the back of the truck. There was a sudden jolt that sent the pair skittering to the ground and Loz just managed to capture the pale white hand as the truck started rising up of it's own accord.

"What?" asked a terrified girlish voice and Loz looked down. His eyes widened in shock to see that he was actually holding onto a girl. Something he had never done before in his life and out of panic he nearly let her go again. The truck continued to roll over and as they slid down Loz grabbed onto the firmest thing he could and tightened his grip. It made no sense that they were virtually vertigal now and it was only when he heard the orders to push it over the edge that the boy even realised what was going on.

"No time to explain," he yelled above the noise as the whole place began to rock back and forth unsteadily, I need you to climb up and cling onto me…can you do that?"

The girl looked up at him in total terror and seemed to swing there uselessly like a rag-doll. Her mind was filled with conflicting thoughts and she felt an unknown fear beginning to build up in her chest as she shook her head vainly.

Loz was beginning to lose his grip on the table he was holding onto and tried desperately to pull her up but even with her weight being next to nothing he found it incredibly hard to do. "Yes you can…you have to…please! Just try!" he yelled down to the girl.

Half terrified out of her wits, Eisa tried to grab his leg and somehow managed it but with a final groan the truck was whistling over the edge of the mountains and crashing down. Somehow Loz was able to grab onto the girl but it didn't stop their bodies slamming into the walls with the crunch of bones and the splatters of blood.

The men on the edge of the cliff watched the truck go down and turned to their commanding officer, "What will Hojo make of this?"

"What he always does," replied the officer who had a moustache the size and width of a comb, "but we'll report it as a terrorist attack and that the specimen was infected. There's no way that anyone or anything could survive that fall."

Eisa felt Loz go limp in her grasp, the last blow striking the side of his head and causing a nasty and rather bloody gash to appear. She didn't want to die, not like this. Not know who she was or where she had come from but there was nothing that she could do. The truck hit a gentle slope and the pair crashed into the ground but kept on rolling. It was then that Eisa's red eyes fell on one of the red marbles that was rolling about amongst the debris. The truck continued to gain momentum and speed as she struggled towards it before it rolled off the edge and plummeted downwards.

Bouncing around inside, Eisa cried out as her back collided with the remains of the medical pod before her body re-slammed into Loz's unresponsive form which knocked the wind out of her for a second or so. However the small red marble landed in her outstretched palm and barely aware of what she was doing the girl pointed it at the sky and a beam of pinkish white light shot straight up.

For a moment there was just a stream of lights going out in all the directions of the compass but then suddenly a large mythical bird with red feathers, blue trimmings and golden decorations shot down straight for the falling truck. Eisa recognised it as the one she had seen in the darkness that day and found herself calling out to it though it was next to impossible to hear the name with all the noise.

Valfore called back to it's mistress before unleashing a beam of light from it's beak to destroy the metal contraption around the falling pair. With a screech and a small boom of sonic, the bird swooped low and caught the girl and Loz on its back before gliding away faster than any living thing should have been able to do.

Glancing back, the girl watched as the Soldiers stared after them in shock and awe and looked down at the wounded boy in her arms. "Thank you," she said lightly and placed a kiss on his lips, "I'll protect you now."

"Sir," one of the cadets said carefully, "now what do we do?"

"The only thing we can," said the officer, sucking in his teeth, "find some excuse to not get the blame set on us and send the big guns after the pair."

"But sir…wasn't that a…" the cadet started again.

The Officer shot him a glare and sent him immediately packing. Glancing out over the wreckage he knew fine well that there would be no explaining this, not even to Zack. He could only hope that no one would hold him personally responsible though from the general commotion that was going on still, it would be hard to call what happened and what didn't.

Still he had to wonder if Hojo was even aware of what he had just lost.

Somewhere in Midgar

A figure leaned against a wall, a long black cloak covering most of the form whilst a stick gently rested against the same spot. A small glowing disc displayed images that were gentle and fuzzy, not quite filled in and abstract but that was enough to convince her that all was going according to plan. Glancing up at the Shinra, Izarra nodded once and grinned, "You may hold the winning cards at the moment Hojo but your luck will eventually run out."


	34. Kittens

**Disclaimer: As with all others, don't own**

**Authors note: Heh here's an update at long last and hope you all like. Was meant to be a bit longer but I think this just about covers everything. Check out Rockets and Toyboxes to get fluff fics and make suggestions of what chibi Eisa and Seph got up to. **

**Kittens**

Somewhere on the World Map

The rain was pattering lightly against the stones just outside the small cave whilst Eisa gently added more scavenged bits of wood to the fire. It was only a small thing, barely enough to cook on but the girl was more concerned about keeping warm and having light than eating right now. Ideally she blew some of the ashes back into the flames before glancing to the boy who had tried to save her. He was lying on his back, half-stripped of the ragged leather shirt and trousers that he wore and bandaged up with strips of her ragged clothes. The consequence was that right now Eisa appeared to be wearing nothing more that a very small shirt and a gypsy style skirt that had been cut far to fine. But there again, the black haired girl had nothing else to use to deal with the wounds the other had sustained.

Twisting her head back to the cave entrance at hearing a squawk, the girl quietly got up and headed over the rough rocks. Curiously peering out, she blinked at the pink chocobo who had followed them for a while before disappearing off. Now the creature was carrying a small bag and nodded its head towards her as if it wanted her to take the item. Stepping forward, the rain almost stinging her skin, Eisa lightly took the bag and nearly dropped it in surprise when the bird 'kweh'd' at her before heading into the small cave itself. "W..wait!" she said, desperately trying to stop the creature causing utter havoc but amazed to find that it had simply wandered over to the prone boy and sat down next to him. The next instance, the bird had extended its wing over the boy and 'kweh'd' again with a happy sound.

Realising that she was still out in the rain, Eisa quickly re-entered and plonked herself down on a rock before opening the bag which the bird had brought back. It contained two packages wrapped up in brown paper and tied with string, marked simply with an 'L' and a 'E', a few pieces of armour, some more of the glowing coloured marbles which were different colours to the ones that Eisa had previously seen and two extra oddly shaped packages with tags that read 'Weapons' on them. They were wrapped in a course but practical cloth but had silken ties to hold them in place.

The one with the blue silk ribbons, Eisa had trouble even moving. It was long, heavy and made of a thick sturdy metal though she didn't take it out of the covering. Gently she placed it to one side and picked up the second cloth wrapped one and found that it was extremely light to the touch and sent a little bit of a fizz through her fingers. The ribbon on this was also silk; but it was a mainly purple design with lots of red, white and orange flowers on it. Tugging on the tie, she stared in amazement as the plain blue cloth fell away to expose the fine weapon underneath.

It was a mages staff, about three quarters the length of her own body and shimmered a pleasant light blue colour. Hand carved wings glistened in the top whilst a small blue sphere shone radiantly whenever Eisa gently placed her fingers near it. It was almost as if the staff had been made for her, the way that it fitted so neatly into her hands and felt weightless. Spinning it cautiously a few times, Eisa's red eyes picked up on a white envelope included with the packages and carefully picked it up. Opening the thing was easy enough but staring at the sheet that came with it, the girl could hardly understand the symbols on the paper. She knew that they were writing of some sort but found to her dismay that she couldn't remember how to read. Though it had only been in the last couple of hours that she had actually remembered her name.

Sighing, the girl glanced towards the white haired boy and stood up, clutching the staff in her fingers, "Stay with him," she said hoarsely, her throat sore, "I'm going to find some food and water,"

Corel made a noise of confirmation towards the girl and watched as she headed back out into the rain. Tilting her head to the side, the pink chocobo carefully nestled her head down into the packaging and pulled out a green piece of materia very carefully with her beak. Holding it above Loz's body, the Chocobo gave an overly large nod and watched as the green dust fell onto the boy. It would still take some time for him to wake up but at least he was more or less healed now.

The rain made it virtually impossible to predict where there was any edible food in the entire place and the cave systems appeared to be just as long and frustrating as they were useful. Eisa had come across a couple of old creates though which contained some potions, elixirs and other hand things but there was still the lack of food which had her highly concerned. Wandering carefully to another small duct, the girl jumped visibly in surprise when a mewling noise came her way from a nearby rock. Clutching the staff tightly, she crept forward and peered over the stone carefully.

There on the ground was a fully grown Liat, her red fur bristling with the water that was mingling with the long dried blood on her side. There were a scattering of tiny liat's all around the mother, cold and lifeless but there had definitely been a mewling sound from before. Stepping closer, Eisa carefully searched for the source of the noise and eventually sound a small blue Liat cub desperately trying to keep warm with the last part of its mother's tail. It was desperately thin and mewled out in pain from a scratch down its side. Large grey eyes turned upwards to Eisa, almost as if asking _why won't my mummy wake up._

"Aww," Eisa said quietly reaching forward to pick the little creature up, "poor little kitty cat."

Just as her fingers grabbed the soft fur and began picking up the tiny cub, there was a whoosh behind her followed by a shriek. Twisting away just in time, Eisa stared at the large bird like creature that was in front of her with the fiery glow to it's eyes and for a moment panicked. The fight was on and the creature charged, talons ready to strike the girl but she quickly dodged and flung her staff in an inelegant arch to smack the bird on the side of the head. It staggered to the left for a few seconds before regaining its balance and charging at her again, this time she was ready and ducking down she swung the staff upwards to catch the beast's underbelly where it let out a squawk of dismay before tumbling down to the ground.

Looking down at the creature still somehow in her arms, Eisa glared at the bird, "You no hurt this kitty no more!" she said but then there came a horrid sound of many beating wings. A quick glance upwards was enough for the girl to confirm that there were definitely more than one of these flying terrors and without a seconds thought she turned and ran back through the cave system which had led her to this location. The birds were determined and kept on striking at her and the Liat which was yowling its head off at the sudden change of situation and Eisa knew that if she stopped for a second then it would be all over.

However running in nothing but her bear feet, the girl suddenly skidded on wet rocks and went crashing down with a yell. She barely had time to brace herself for the impact of the claws when there was a loud shot and the nearest bird fell dead in front of her before disappearing into a host of pretty sparkles. More shots followed in quick succession and two more of the birds fell before the rest were off and flying quickly. Eisa slowly raised her head, only to be forcibly pulled into a tight hug, "Don't you dare do that to me again," came a slightly worried voice and Eisa found herself staring into the panic filled eyes of Loz, the boy who had rescued her, "I can't loose you, you understand? I made a promise to protect you…and I can't do that if you wander off."

Staring at him a little confusedly for a few seconds, Eisa nodded quietly but looked a little on the unsure side. Loz shook his head and hugged her again, placing a kiss on her head, "My name's Loz and I know your father pretty well. Now come on, back to camp before Corel goes nuts."

He started to lead her back to the small cave but Eisa tugged away from his hand at hearing a sound with a cry of, "Kitty!"

"Huh?" Loz asked as he turned back to see the girl wander over to a small patch of rocks and quietly pull out a young Liat cub from them. She kissed it fondly and hugged the crying mess to her body before smiling at Loz and holding the blue creature out to him, "Kitty," she said happily.

Loz didn't know how to react at first to such a statement and looked at the cub who was rather pathetically licking its nose, "Eisa, that a Liat cub."

"Kitty," she replied a bit firmer with half a glare.

He was about to argue with the girl but decided against it. Explaining anything was really quite beyond him at the moment and he wanted to just get Eisa back to the camp so he could get her wrapped up in the new set of clothes that had been left by someone calling themselves 'Iz'. "Okay…he's Kitty, now come on," he extended his hand, "I don't want you falling and injuring yourself anymore young lady."

Eisa smiled and took his hand, a part of her knowing fine well that she should be rather scared of this strange man but in all truth she found that she rather liked him. He had come to save her and whilst he had yet to tell her anything of use, except that he had known her father, the girl just presumed that they had been friends when they were little. It was nice to know that he would be able to help fill in some of the blanks that were currently plaguing her mind, once they had something to eat though of course.

The Liat cub looked up at the girl who was carrying him and let out a happy sounding bark as he chewed on a bit of random cloth. He liked this lady very much; she was definitely going to be his new mummy whilst the boy was still on unsure grounds. His tail flicked back and forth happily and already he had assumed that his name was 'Kitty'.

Maybe in the future he wouldn't like it as much but right now, the young Liat was willing to go with anything as long as it meant warmth, food and love.


	35. No Sleep

**Discalimer: Same as the others, not going to change!**

**Authors Note: Heh sorry for the wait once again but here's three new chapters for you all and things are getting interesting indeed. Could have combined them to make it longer but decided against that. Please please please R&R cause my muse is being a pain at the moment**

**No Sleep**

An underground Laboratory

Midgar

Staying awake in this hell hole wasn't usually that hard to do, the constant screams of tormented souls, soft sobbing that was trying to be hidden, mad scientists interested in furthering their work without a care and guards placing bets on what was going to happen next in extremely loud voices to torment the prisoners. However, right now Sephiroth was finding that all his body and mind wanted to do was fall asleep and remain there for a long time indeed. He didn't want to die, that would be unfair on the others but he was just so tired.

It had been four days since they had taken Cloud away from him with no explanation and there had been no sign of the little blond cadet since. Not even the horrifying sound of his screams had been heard which was really causing worry for the silver haired man. Over the last couple of months he had gotten rather attached to the sprig of the boy and didn't want to even hazard a guess at what sick and twisted thing that Hojo would be performing.

Sometimes that man made him physically sick with his notions and ideas, how he could create the perfect warrior for a world that clearly didn't need one.

Sliding down the cold metal that was one of the walls, Sephiroth had to let out a sigh of frustration. He knew that there was no way he could keep up this routine any longer and there was no indication that Cloud was going to come back anytime soon. He let out a growl of frustration and hung his head in shame. "I'm sorry Cloud…I waited as long as I could."

His head flopped forward onto his knees and within a few moments Sephiroth was fast asleep, no dreams to haunt his mind this time around thankfully.


	36. Ticking Time Bomb

**Discalimer: Same as always, don't own and all the rest of it**

**Ticking Time Bomb**

Island

"Are you sure this is such a wonderful idea?" one of the assistants name Jones asked, looking at the Mako filled tank which currently housed Vincent Valentine and his formidable demons, "I mean if something goes wrong…"

The younger assistant with long black hair shot him a glare, "Then it goes wrong, we have only one shot at this and if it fails then we can say that at least we died trying right?"

Jones nodded and quickly set back to work on a project which would either bring them salvation or devastation. Tifa Lockhart knew fine well that she was playing a very fiery game of death right now and that the others would definitely not approve of such actions but there was little else to try. Breaking into Shinra HQ was out of the question right now, the security levels had almost tripled since the last attempt and from what other intelligence that had been gathered it was pretty much a dead certainty that Eisa was lost to the world whereas Vincent was right here in front of her.

She stared up at the man in the tank, wondering just how he was going to react to this treatment and hoping against all the odds that he would be able to help her convince the others that they had to disrupt Shinra's activities in other areas to get the best chance of being able to break into the vaults to release Sephiroth and Cloud from that constant torture.

Her chest tightened at the thought that the spiky blond chocobo kid from her hometown could be turned into something like Vincent in the hands of that monster of a man. The sweet innocent little boy who had always tried his best to prove himself and generally failed at every turn. Whilst she had never paid him much attention growing up, because she was in with the kids who were into far greater things at the time, Tifa had always secretly been aware of Cloud's presence but had never had the nerve to invite him over on a rainy day or do anything sensible instead of pretending not to watch him watching her through the bedroom window.

"It's ready," Jones said and Tifa smiled before nodding at him to continue. Zack was going to go completely spare with her for such things if she survived but there was hope to be had if you didn't at least try something. A thick black substance filtered into the glowing green Mako and both waited with baited breath for the results.

At first there was nothing but suddenly the man inside the tank started to lash out, his whole body fighting back and forth against the glass prison around him whilst the normally red eyes glowed a vibrant gold. Jones fell back in terror but Tifa held firm, she was well aware of the fear that was harrowing through her body at the moment but that didn't matter. She had to stand her ground and make sure that everything went according to plan.

Just unfortunately for Tifa, she didn't know what the plan was in the first place.

The glass smashed, sending the liquid contents flying all over the sensitive equipment which fizzled and spluttered before exploding all around. Tifa was thrown to the floor and covered her head as best as she could. Alarms started ringing all around, electricity sparked back and forth and general chaos erupted from every last port. Guards came rushing in, guns blazing and it took every last ounce of resilience for the girl to look up.

Towering above her was a mighty winged demon with glowing demonic eyes and fiercesome looking claws. It snarled at the latest batch of Shrina employees who had come through the doors before downing them all with two swift hits. The eyes turned her way and before she could even begin to scream, Chaos had grabbed the girl, shot a hole the size of a truck in the ceiling and flown up and out into the night air.

It snarled something that she couldn't understand before a sudden ball of pure blue energy rippled into formation and dived straight towards the building. A huge boom, followed by a mushroom of light which quickly turned into a billowing cloud of smoke and ash.

The demon looked down at her one last time before beating its wings fiercely and flying away from the burning mass towards the mainland.

Two figures slowly materialised from the smoke, watching the pair disappear. They glanced at one another before simply nodding and then disappearing from view.

Shinra Labs HQ

Midgar

Flames engulfed the building, choking black smoke filled the rooms and the stench of blood was almost overpowering. What had happened here? Where was he…come to this of it who was he?

Blue eyes looked around the room, trying to work out what was going on but unable to comprehend the images around him. There was broken glass all around, a strange glowing liquid and burning fires everywhere else.

People were moving around, just beyond the wall of fire that blocked him from the only possible exit out of this hell. They didn't seem to notice him, instead just shouting incomprehensible nonsense. His body felt heavy, as if it were in a lot of pain but he couldn't remember a thing. It was all just hazy details that didn't click together.

Suddenly he was falling forward, onto the glass that would surely cut his face open. But there was already blood splattered on the walls which made no sense.

"Sempai-san!" a terrified voice came through the dull throb of his hearing but as his eyes twisted up to focus on the figure there was only the outline of black and silver to focus on. The figure was talking, telling him something and trying to move him but the man didn't particularly feel like doing so. He was just so heavy and so tired.

There was a jolt and he felt the floor beneath him crumble, where they in a building? One that was collapsing? Taking him and this other with him? No, he was not going to die like that, he couldn't die like that.

Grabbing the silver framed other who had called him Sempai, the man in pain let his instincts guide him and he ran.

Then he was leaping…no it was falling but it was controlled somehow and moments later his bare feet hit the rough concrete of another rooftop. He turned back to watch as the mighty dominating building above appeared to crumble. Only one tower did which for some reason he was very happy about, the tower of Babylon had fallen at long last. "Sempai?" a voice asked and the man looked down at the other, able to pick out the details but suddenly feeling so tired as he collapsed to the ground.

"Go find…others," was that rasp really his voice, he couldn't tell anymore, "Park. Meet there."

He saw the young boy nod before disappearing. He cast his eyes back to the falling building and tried to figure out what was going on. Who was he? Why was he here? It was all a mystery to him but hopefully someone out there would be able to tell him.

Mountains

Pausing in her step, Eisa turned to see the two pillars of light that shot up from the horizon line almost at the same time. Her eyes widened not in fear but as something came to her in those moments, memories which she had long forgotten bubbling up. "Nii-san," she addressed Loz without turning around, "I think my father is free."

"You remember him?" Loz asked a little guardedly.

The girl nodded, almost shuddering as she looked down at her hands, "I remember a lot of things. Something's going on in Midgar…we should go back there."

"That's the worst thing we could do. We'll be head hunted from the get go," he sighed, "I'm sorry Eisa, I know you just want to help but I'm afraid there's not a lot that two people, a chocobo and a Liat cub can do to change the world."

Eisa glanced back to the fading pillars of light, "You never know until you try."


	37. Lilies in the Church

**Discalimer: Same as always (Do I need to keep putting this in now?)**

**Lilies in the Church**

The Church

Slums

Humming to herself quietly, Aerith gently tendered to her flowers to make everything appear perfectly natural for the people who she instinctively knew were watching her. She could hear their breathing and feel their presence but she wasn't going to respond to them just yet. If there was one thing the Ancient knew it was to always appear calm and collected, it saved a lot of trouble when it came to big things going down. Plus she didn't want to give the game away to early; Zack had asked her to just act as naturally as possible.

He and some of the other members of Avalanche were currently hiding out in the church, hidden in the broken floorboards under the men's feet or else up in the rafters where they could see what was going on a whole lot easier. It wasn't exactly the most comfortable of spots but there were worse things that could happen.

Tseng walked towards the girl after a few minuets, aware that she wasn't reacting to his presence but prepared to put up with that. "Aerith?" he questioned gently, watching the flower girl stop her work to look up at him, "I've been sent to collect you."

"You're being awfully polite today Tseng," she said in the same old tone of voice which would make most people melt into a very happy pile of goo in the corner, "But I suppose I should return that favour."

The Turk raised an eyebrow in surprise and was about to question when suddenly the very foundations of the building shook and immediately there seemed to be a flurry of action. People scrambled out of their homes, looking to the sky to see if anything was going on only to hear the distant thunks as something hit the plate high above. It sounded ominous and deadly.

Suddenly chunks of concrete and metal came tumbling down as the support pillar crumpled under a massive weight. People were screaming out that the sky was falling in and Tseng ran with his Turks to head back to their base of operations and discover what was going on. Zack scrambled onto the roof of the Church to get a better view and watched as the Shinra tower block came tumbling down as if someone had pulled out the wrong piece from a jenga game.

What scared him the most though was the shadow of a figure he saw. Even though it was from a distance and there was going to be no confirming until the news actually managed to get some information itself, Zack knew who had done such an act. Whilst his heart was overjoyed with the fact that his friend was still alive, a stab of fear ran through his chest as the sheer destructive force which had been implemented in a single attack.

It was beyond what any normal human being could do and it genuinely terrified him. "What did they do to you?" he questioned the figure which had long since disappeared down into the skyline and out of his sight range.

Something told him that this was going to be a really bad situation to deal with.

**Authors note: Duh duh duh, which ones gone crazy and all badass? Have to wait to find out. Please review!**


	38. Hilltop

**Discalimer: yeah, we know by now okay?**

**Authors note: hey guys, here's an update. Sorry it took a while longer than I expected but lifes just been like that. Still read and enjoy**

**Hilltop **

**Midgar**

Shifting slowly, green eyes opened onto a dark sky and stared around in confusion. Pushing himself up, Sephiroth realised that he was on top of a hill, somewhere on the edges of Midgar but had no idea as to how he had gotten there in the first place. His head hurt like mad and he felt drained of all energy. Hearing a stifled moan, he twisted around to find Cloud lying next to him with a soaked looking Kadaj huddled next to him. Twisting around, he tried to seek out the only other remaining brother but couldn't spot Yazoo anywhere which was very strange.

Shivering at the biting wind, he stood up and tried to work out what had happened. Nothing made much sense, as he was sure that he had fallen asleep in the lower cells of Shinra HQ and now he was out on the plains in a pretty precarious position. There were supposed to be small towns and hamlets around here but it had been an area which his parents refused to go near so he wasn't entirely sure.

Lowering his head, the young man shuddered in the breeze and decided to at least try and make some form of fire. Yes it would betray their position but right now they all needed the warmth. However it appeared that someone else had already thought of such things and there had been a small bundle of sticks gathered together but they were soaking wet as well. Glancing up at the sky, Sephiroth guessed that it must have been raining pretty hard at some point in time whilst he was asleep and noticing what rags of clothes he had left on his body which were also wet pretty much confirmed this.

Sighing, he sat down and tried to think of what to do. Somehow they had escaped, even though he had no idea, but they wouldn't be able to linger in one spot for to long because no doubt Hojo would not be best pleased at having lost not just one of his last remaining experiments but all four of them. The ones he claimed had been working out the best.

His mind wandered as the breeze played about, his hair following the changing direction in a slightly irritating fashion but with nothing to hold it back there wasn't really a whole lot else that he could do bar put up with it. Hearing a sound not far away, Sephiroth's first instinct was to grab the nearest piece of wood, which turned out to be no bigger than a fairly average twig, and brandish it fiercely towards the steadily approaching figure.

It was strange being able to see so well in the dark, a partial blessing of Mako he supposed, and within seconds he had picked out the similarly coloured hair and hastily fitted bandage to the left hand from the last spar they had. Rushing forward to help with the collected firewood, Sephiroth had to let out a sigh of relief, "Yazoo, are you okay?"

The boy looked up at him in surprise before nodding, "I thought you were sleeping." His voice was small, clearly he was on the verge of collapsing and Sephiroth had to sigh. Trust the second eldest to be stubborn enough to think of others before himself despite the situation. Actually for a moment he was reminded of Zack which made his heart ache. What he wouldn't give to have the black spiky haired idiot around right now.

"I was," he replied, taking the wood which was also sodden and tilting his head towards the others, "go and rest. You look worn out."

A tired smile crept across the features and Yazoo nodded before making his way over to the others without an argument for once. A couple of moments later and the second silver haired teen was fast asleep on the ground, wrapped around the opposite side of Cloud.

Smiling faintly, Sephiroth piled the wood but already knew that it was useless and scanned around again. Appeared that all the creatures and monsters were in hiding which was probably the safest idea right now. There was a distant rumble of thunder and the man sighed, shaking his head. They would all get extremely sick if they got caught out in the rain but with no visible light source he wasn't going to risk moving.

It was then that his eyes fell on an object not to far away. Frowning he walked towards it and picked it up. It transpired to be a sword, thin and long with a black hilt. It was covered in blood from slain foes and held a strange sense of familiarity about it. For a second, images flashed in his mind of fire, madness and a glowing woman in the labs but it faded all too quickly.

Shaking his head, Sephiroth found that somehow a scabbard had been left with it and quickly put the dangerous blade away before standing and heading back to his small group. They could rest for now, but they would have to move before the storm struck them. He just didn't know where to run to anymore.


	39. Rain Rain

**Discalimer: Guess what? I don't own**

**Authors Note: Sorry for taking a while to update, meant to have this up about a week ago but kept on forgetting to transfer it. Hope you enjoy and R&R cause the plot bunnies feel hungry **

**Rain, Rain**

Kalm

Loz had begun to question if Eisa really had remembered anything because at times the girl appeared to be completely confused over the smallest of things. He supposed that she was just trying to sort out everything in her head which even he knew was a tricky area to explore. There was never anything handy like a pause or rewind button to go back over the details and it was clear that some of the things she was remembering were not that pleasant. Though he had a pretty firm guess on what had made the girl strike out at him when he had attempted to comfort her when she had woken up screaming last night. His neck now bore a mighty bruise but really he didn't expect much else.

What he had been forced to do was something he wasn't proud of in the slightest and in a lot of ways he wished it had never happened. But with Hojo it was inevitable that his twisted mind would do something that disgusting and horrible to something so lovely and innocent.

At least nothing had come from it, which was a blessing in itself.

The pair were currently walking down the main street in Kalm, the little market town outside of Midgar that saw a lot of traffic going through it so they were less likely to be recognised as anything other than travellers. Of course having a Chocobo following you around as well as a rather hyperactive Liat cub didn't help their situation but generally most people of the town just ignored them. Eisa still wanted to head to Midgar, she was rather adamant on the subject but Loz was dead set against it because he didn't want to put her in that much danger.

Plus from what he had managed to get on the information circuit, all the experiments from the Shinra Labs had been reported as missing which meant that they were going to be outside the city if they had any sense. Loz could only pray that it would happen but so far there had been no strange sightings to confirm his theory so he just had to find ways of distracting the black haired girl next to him.

Thankfully, Kalm had one distinct advantage over the other potential hamlets that they could have gone to. It was a market town and that meant there was a vast array of armour, weapons and materia for sale or trade. Whilst they had their own specialist weapons, neither had much in the way of defensive capabilities or any materia other than the summons. Granted they were useful but sometimes calling upon dragons, ice goddesses and cute green creatures wasn't a good idea if you wanted to keep a low profile.

So they had decided to go shopping for some items but as usual had been completely caught out in the rain. Loz had hoped that the earlier shower was all that was going to occur that day but it appeared that their luck wasn't in the weather. Huddling up in the doorway of some closed down hotel, the dark grey haired teen sighed and looked down at the shivering form next to him, "Do you want my jacket?"

"No thank you," Eisa replied, trying to look away but failing. It was impossible to hide the fear in her voice even though it was clear that she understood everything. Sighing, the older teen took off the jacket regardless and bundled her up in it, "Can't have you catching a cold, it would set us back no end."

Rubbing her fingers along the edge of the material, Eisa looked down at the ground, "I remember."

Loz sighed and focused his attention on the street and the few people who were running to get out of the downpour. Really he didn't want to hear what Eisa was going to say but he knew fine well that it wasn't an option to not hear her out. She needed to get it off her chest otherwise it would just eat away at her constantly which would make everything just a little bit harder between the two of them.

"I remember how you cried," she said, looking down at a puddle which Kitty happened to be splashing about in, "how you tried to get him to stop what he was doing. What he made you do…"

Placing his head lightly on top of hers, he let out a sigh, "Please don't think about it Eisa, if it hurts you so. I would give anything to go back and undo what was done."

Resting her head against his chest the girl sighed, "I don't blame you…I'm sorry for hitting you."

"Hey, I would hit myself if I could," he whispered lightly in return placing a kiss upon her head as he wrapped his arms around the shaking body, "Doesn't look like this is going to let up anytime soon. We should make a dash back to the Inn."

Eisa nodded her consent and the pair clasped hands as they began running through the rain soaked streets to get back to the opposite side of town. Kitty happily bounded around them, enjoying this new game greatly until a rumble of thunder boomed overhead and a flash of lightening bounced off the street in front of them. Loz just about managed to stop in time to grab Eisa but the girl was well aware of what was going on and hauled him and Kitty into the nearest covered alleyway, "That was close."

Loz nodded, scooping up the now terrified Kitty into his arms, "You're not kidding. I've never known the storms to get this bad around here."

Eisa frowned at him, tilting her head to the side as she often did when she quietly asked something. Looking a bit on the sheepish side, Loz gently wet his lips, "Me and my brothers come from here, our Mam used to own the bakers shop on the opposite side of the square."

"I thought…" Eisa started before stopping and shaking her head, "he really does like screwing with peoples lives doesn't he?"

Loz nodded in response but then looked up sharply, "Can you hear that?"

Straining her hearing, at first Eisa didn't hear a thing other than the storm as it rumbled on overhead in a dramatic display. Then faintly she picked up on a different sound which reminded her of the large bird like creatures in the mountains which had swooped down on them on a number of occasions. Something was definitely coming towards the small village but she couldn't quite work out what.

Looking up at the same time as Loz, her red eyes briefly caught something flying high above them. With a quick glance towards the other, Eisa nodded and grabbed her staff which was always nestled securely on her back whilst Loz pulled out his gunblade before both ran off towards the square where the creature was obviously headed. Kitty followed a little more cautiously, clearly not liking the rain in the slightest. This town had gone through enough hassles without getting attacked by demons in the mix and both were prepared to defend the little town which had provided them with shelter and a friendly welcome for the first time in a long while.

Plains outside of

Kalm

The weather definitely wasn't helping their progress; the freezing rain was digging into their skin and plastering the already destroyed clothes to the skin. Sephiroth really didn't expect that they would be able to reach the distant lights that were glistening oh so invitingly in the near distance but he had to keep on going. Pausing to readjust the rapidly fading blond, Sephiroth looked up as he heard the leathery flap of what sounded like wings and at first couldn't see anything.

Kadaj and Yazoo also stopped, scanning the sky as well but everything was far to dark for them to be able to see a thing. It was when the flapping noise was joined by a second one did Sephiroth click to the fact that it was Helicopters, "Run!" he ordered quickly, scooping up Cloud in an attempt to make his life easier, "Head for the town over there! Don't argue! Just run!"

The young brothers needed no second bidding and charged off as fast as their broken bodies would allow them. Sephiroth could feel the Mako pumping around him, pushing him on towards the lights but he knew the adrenalin would only last a certain length of time before cutting out on him and the others. Still he couldn't willingly go back to Shinra; there was not a chance in hell that was going to do such things. And the only people with Helicopters around here that he knew of were Shinra.

"Got to keep on going…" he murmured, feeling lactic acid burning at his legs as he ran, trying to fight back against the pain.

It was almost the longest and slowest run of his life as suddenly all around the fleeing group bullets ricocheted into the mud at their feet. All three collapsed to the floor, trying to avoid the splatter and hoping against hope that somehow they would be missed in all the mud.

However the next second, the Helicopters had passed overhead and continued towards the small town of Kalm without so much as a pause to see who they had shot at. Something instinctively told Sephiroth that something was definitely going very very wrong right now and he tried to force himself up into a standing position.

A sharp blade lightly connected with the side of his throat, though with just enough pressure to say that the wielder was in full control, "Don't move." The voice was feminine and heavy with an Wutaniese accent and slowly Sephiroth raised his hands in surrender. He had heard what Wutanies people did to those who fought back.

There was shouting behind him but he couldn't understand the language and suddenly he found his wrists tied firmly behind his back and his face pushed into the mud. He struggled, hearing the others yelling out as they were similarly treated, "Let them go!" he pleaded, spitting out lumps of mud, "Please let them go."

"Tell them to quiet," went the voice again, the shriken digging into his neck just a little bit farther, "or we cut tongue."

"Yazoo, Kadaj," he hissed, shaking his head lightly at the pair, "Please stop yelling. They'll hurt you more if you do…"

"But they're taking…" Kadaj started to complain but was silenced by a hand forcing his head down; tears were already creeping down his face.

He glanced forward to where he had dropped Cloud to see him being picked up by one of the taller Wutainese men. "Cloud!" he hissed, trying to struggle once again but this time feeling a cloth go over his nose and mouth and within seconds he was out cold on the floor.

The man looked at the blond in his arms who appeared to be half-dead and turned a questioning eye to the young lady next to the eldest of the three, "Are we sure these are the ones?"

The lady nodded, "Yes, I checked the files just before they escaped. It's at least one of the two for one client."

"We should leave then…" started the man before turning as a boom sounded and Kalm suddenly lit up the sky but in a more unexpected way that normal. Flames erupted all around and the smell of death crossed the air.

Without so much as a second glance back, the small band of Wutaniese travellers gathered up the runaways and turned quickly to their carts. Whilst they felt sorry for what had occurred in the small province, there was nothing that they could do to help right now. The youngest of the group paused to glance back, biting her lip, "Why do people have to die like that?"


	40. Welcome Home

**Welcome Home**

**Disclaimer: Same routine as always**

**Authors note: Heh okay so I'll admit I'm bad at updating but hopefully there are still some people out there who are willing to continue reading this delightfully mad fic. There are a couple other chapters planned out so alls good in that respect. **

Somewhere on the plains near Gongoga

Tifa was pretty sure that Vincent Valentine could have flown much further than he had managed if it wasn't for the bullet wound which had interrupted their flight a long while ago. She understood that the hunter had every right to shoot down something big, evil looking and that was apparently heading directly towards them but it was a bit unfair of him to suddenly race off upon realising that he was dealing with two human beings. If she ever ran into him, Tifa was sure that she was going to smack him into the middle of next week.

Turning back to the very pale looking man, Tifa sighed and pressed her fingers lightly against his forehead, "You're fevers going up. We're going to have to go to the nearest town for medical supplies."

"No," Vincent cursed out, pulling his forehead away from the lovely sensation of her fingers, "We cannot risk it."

"I know that," Tifa snapped, glaring at him for all her worth, "But at the same time you can't go on much further before that wound becomes infected and where does that leave us hmm?"

Faced with such sensible logic, Vincent could only scowl at the other slightly in the hopes that she would just wander off and leave him alone. No actually come to think of it, that was what Chaos wanted the girl to do but he had no idea as to why. He knew that his body could only take so much more before there would be not other option but to go into a city where it would be impossible to hide their identity. Tifa had been kind enough to fill him in on at least that and it had brought a faint smile to his features to know that Barrett was still operating his insane schemes to bring down Shinra even after all the crap that they had gone through.

He glanced up at the fiercely determined young woman who was hunkered down opposite him and sighed, "All right! We'll go into the nearest town but I'm warning you if it turns out to be…"

"Oh stupid do you think I am?" Tifa glared at him, "There's very few people here who actually like Shinra, especially since the reactor blew up and they were pretty much abandoned."

For some odd reason that struck a cord deep within Vincent's heart though he couldn't quite figure out as to why. Still he didn't question it as he hauled himself up onto shaky legs and allowed Tifa to support him. There was no denying that he wasn't in terrible shape and all his body wanted to do was find a relatively nice spot to curl up in and rest until it was fully healed but he had more pressing issues right now. He had to find his son and daughter, make sure that they were all right but each step was like trying to walk on very hot coals.

The small hamlet came into view but Vincent found that he could barely keep his eyes open long enough to focus on any details. Vaguely he was aware of Tifa yelling for help and someone responding but then a thick blackness hit him and for a time he passed out of all conscious thought.

"It's a good thing you decided to come into town when you did," the young with brown hair said as she quickly mashed up some herbs to create more of the healing tonic which was working nicely on reducing Vincent's temperature, "There's been a whole host of patrols in the hills of late. Shinra appears to be searching for something really well."

Tifa grimaced, "That's one lot of people I wouldn't like to run into in this state."

"I can understand that. Grace will be better able to heal your friend," she said with a smile, "She's much better at this sort of thing than me but there again she did raise two boys so knowing what to do about various status alignments is her middle name."

"She sounds like a very nice person indeed," Tifa said, taking a sip of the mug of tea which she had been given some time ago. Surprisingly it was still warm and made her think of home though there was nothing that she could really place as to why.

The girl smiled, "I'm Kairi by the way, what's your name?"

"Tina," Tifa said, opting not to use her real name out here in the sticks. Not that it would worry most people of course but it was slightly better to play it on the safe side right now.

Kairi grinned, "Nice to meet you. I'm going to get some hot water to clean up that wound a little bit more. If his temperature rises give him some more of the medicine. I'll be right back."

Tifa sighed as the girl disappeared into the darkness once again and looked up at the ceiling. Well at least a little bit of fortune had smiled down upon them she supposed. It was then that she noticed the photographs on the walls and covering the various draws and desks. They were just the usual family nonsense of birthdays, holidays, that randomly really nice photo that happened by chance, graduation and the likes but she couldn't help feeling that she knew the spiky haired bright eyed boy in the pictures. Stepping closer to one which looked fairly recent, she picked it up and studied the young face intently for a few seconds.

Her eyes hot open in surprise as realisation hit her, "Zack Fair?" she whispered before looking up to spot a different photo which stood out from the rest.

It featured four figures sitting around what could loosely have been described as a picnic just with a rather battered old basket and a handful of raggerty sandwiches. There was a smiling young woman with shoulder length brown hair and a smile of an extremely proud mother, she was dressed in a simple gingham of blue and green and held a locket around her neck. Next to her was a young boy of about fifteen by the looks of him with shimmering green eyes and long white hair held back in a pony tail. He was dressed in grey three quarter length trousers and a sleeveless white top with the logo of one of the blitzball teams on it though it was hidden by a young child of maybe eight years old who had long black hair which appeared to have been forced into bunches by two ribbons which were far too small. Her bright red eyes stared out with joy and laughter in them and she was grinning form ear to ear like a Cheshire cat despite the fact that her brother was holding onto her so that she didn't go charging off. She was dressed in a simple dress of pink with no shoes.

The last figure was a man who was tall in build with his matching black hair tied back from his face and red eyes half closed as he rested lightly against his wife. There was no mistaken the two men that she was looking at and Tifa timidly turned her head to look at the pale man on the bed and unintentually compared him to the very happy man in the photograph.

"Vincent?" a voice said before she could summon up the courage to do so and quickly the girl turned to find herself staring at Grace Fair, a rather plump looking woman with short brown hair and the same sparkling blue eyes that Zack possessed. Tifa almost chocked as she saw the tears in the other woman's eyes, noting the long scars and scratches on her arms that weren't quite hidden by the off-colour shirt.

Grace staggered towards Vincent, gently brushing some of the long black hair away from his face, "By Bahamut! I never thought I would see you again…" suddenly the features hardened and Grace rolled up her sleeves, "Right! Where's that hot water and those herbs. We're going to be in for a long night."


	41. Songs of Prayer

**Songs of Prayer**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own, if I did I don't think FFVII would be as popular **

**Authors note: Thought I would focus a bit on Zack this chapter since I seem to neglect the errant puppy half of the time so hopefully this will make up for it. Please read and review cause the plot bunnies like to bite my behind to tell me to hurry up when the e-mails come through ^^**

Midgar

Sector Five Slums Church

The gentle hew of the flowers was enough to settle Barrett's worrying mind but not enough to make him feel anymore comfortable. It wasn't that the surrounding area was hostile or anything; in fact if he were honest then this place felt like a sanctuary despite its rundown appearance and general mayhem. The Church was like everywhere else in Sector Five, broken, forgotten and left to fall under its own weight.

Except for the flowers.

The white and yellow lilies which grew in the church were a marvel to behold and their soft scent whilst a little on the sickly side for his liking, felt like some form of remedy. In this place it was possible to believe that they could achieve their goals and rid the world of Shinra and all evil. There were no false promises here, just a gentle breeze and a sense of calm. It made him think better, made him more aware and a bit on the humble side.

Not that he was going to admit that to anyone, especially not the black haired ex-solider who had turned up out of the blue so many weeks ago saying that he wanted to beat Shinra into the ground for what they had done to his friends. Barrett was still in two minds about Zack, there seemed to be almost unreal quality to him. Like he was too good to be true. But the crux of that argument was that Zack could also be an idiot like the rest of them.

He faintly remembered a rather thick puppy from his home, how he would watch the stupid little thing walk straight into a wall or into a massive hole that was barely unable to be seen. Ironically that puppy had also had black fur. Lightly he snorted at himself, hopping down from the plinth that he had put himself on and turned to walk towards the door.

"Going to relieve Wedge before he blooming well falls asleep on the job," he grunted despite the fact that no one had even bothered to ask him where he was going.

Zack glanced up, watching the man leave and sighed over so slightly, "You would think that he would learn to be a little less noisy after what happened."

Aerith smiled at him, gently and serenely as she always did with an almost infuriating calmness that always melted his heart. "Don't blame Barrett; it's just his way of getting through life. He's big, loud and a jack of all trades. He means well but…

"Is just a noisy git," Zack finished with a half smile in her general direction. "Don't worry, I know all that…"

"You're just worried about your friends aren't you?" Aerith said, running her pale hand through his dark hair.

Lowering his head to look at the ground, Zack didn't respond. There wasn't a lot that he could say to be truthful, at least not anything new. The flower girl had put up with many a night when he would be displeased with what was going on in the world, how Shinra was screwing up everything and how he just wanted to know that his friends were safe. That was why he originally signed up to the army, to protect people and ensure that they had smiles of their own. He hadn't wanted to become a mass murderer who was forced to turn in his friends who were doing essentially the same thing as him with the only upshot being that they were doing it for the people and not for the shareholders.

Still the accusation stung him all the time, especially when Barrett or one of the others brought up the point that he was a defector from Shinra. It made moving around easier on one side but it also brought way to much attention at the same time. It was hard to hide glowing Mako eyes, especially when the subject happened to look even more out of place when wearing dark shades or a hat. He thought back to the times when he had been growing up, how he had bragged to Seph about how he was going to become the greatest Solider there ever was. At the time he had supposed the other's indifference nature towards the subject was just because the boy had no understanding of the importance but now he realised it was because the silver haired boy already knew way more about the truth of what Shinra really was.

For a second a memory struck him, the very first time that Eisa had asked innocently about Shinra and the things they did. How Sephiroth had tried to protect her from it all and forbidden Zack to mention it to her ever again. He had wondered why at the time, because it had been nothing more than a simple question, but he guessed that she would have learned the truth by now. For a second he replayed the scene in his head, when the Shinra Tower had fallen and he saw the distant figures leaping from building to building. One being carried by another, they had all been to far away to make out any details but it had been rather creepy to watch.

Could the one who had wrecked the labs really have been the sweet and innocent Eisa? No, Zack told himself, she wouldn't be innocent anymore. Slowly he came to his senses as he heard Aerith's voice through the thick void of thoughts which were circling through his mind. She had probably been trying to comfort him but now her words were just a little more demanding with worry.

"Huh? What's wrong?" he asked, looking up in confusion.

It was Barrett who answered first, "Oi, Solider-boy! Move it, we're got company!"

Turning quickly, Zack found himself almost on the receiving end of a wildly shot bullet from a grunt who was taken out not a moment later by Jessie who managed to kick him firmly in the head. For a second Zack thought, 'Tifa would have been proud of that kick' but then grabbed hold of Aerith to give her a firm shove in the right direction, "Come on! We're out of here!"

The others followed quickly, Zack could hear their footfalls. They should have left far earlier but with the patrol's being numerous there wasn't much point in doing so. Barrett caught up with the running pair, "We lost Biggs and Wedge…they went out to get some grub and must've been spied."

"Damn it!" Zack cursed, diving into a nearby alleyway, "Why does the world have to be like this?"

"No idea," Barrett said, coming to an abrupt stop as a wall appeared in front of their faces, "sorry pretty lady but you're coming with me!" Grabbing hold of a panting Aerith, the oil hunter of old deftly clambered over the wall as if it didn't exist in front of him. Zack stared in amazement before having to quickly spin around a cut down two grunts who had managed to somehow keep up with them. A bullet whistled past his ear not five seconds after the last man had broken into a million separate elemenent's to return to the life stream.

Not pausing to see how many more were after them, Zack scrambled over the wall, hissing only slightly as a bullet managed to go through his shoulder. Running flat out, he quickly caught up with Barrett and Aerith and shared only a brief shouted argument before both men found themselves almost trapped. Straight in front of them was the train tracks and coming in from all other sides were plenty of grunts and even some Soldiers who Zack cursed at recognising. The Commanding Officer signalled the 'wait for my signal and then shoot' and a stab of terror went through Zack's heart.

"Hmmm, will you just come quietly Fair or would you rather have all three of you blown to bits?" the CO said, sounding completely smug and looking pleased that he had gotten there first.

Once again it was Barrett who responded first, latching his gun-arm onto Zack's shoulder, "Ha, Shinra scum," then threw himself, Aerith and Zack over the edge of the bridge and straight into a fast moving freight train. "Fire!" the officer yelled and the bullets ricocheted off the metal surrounding them but was quickly lost due to the sheer speed of the train.

After checking that Aerith was perfectly all right, Zack turned upon Barrett with a murderous glare, "You could have gotten us killed! How did you even know that a train was going to be running right under us?"

"Simple," came a voice from the engine and a familiar mop of bright ginger hair stuck itself out of the window, "Because I was the one driving it!" Jessie grinned at the incomprehension in the others eyes before ducking back in and flicking a couple of levers, "You three best be ready, this is going to be the roughest train ride of your life trust me on that!"

"Where does this track head?" Zack shouted, trying to steady himself as the train continued to thunder along.

Jessie didn't reply for a few seconds and Zack presumed she hadn't heard before he heard her yell back, "It's the old service route to Kalm. It goes underground in a minute so we should be good."

Slumping back to the floor of the freight car, Zack stared up at the starry sky which was beginning to come into view and sighed. They were getting out of Midgar but who knew what would a wait at the end of the line.

Turning his head at a soft sound, he watched Aerith quietly as she kneeled down and began singing. He didn't know what the words meant, they were in a language that he couldn't understand but at the same time he understood what it was. A prayer for those who had fallen.

Only someone as pure as Aerith could truly sing such a song at a time like this.


	42. Wood Chimes

**Discalimer: Ya all know it by now**

**Author's note: Heh sorry for taking such a long time to update this fic, lots of things have been going on in my life so it's but tricky getting the time but here are two chapters for all you lucky readers out there ^^**

**Wood Chimes**

When he was finally able to force his eyes open, Kadaj at first thought that he was in some of coffin and nearly panicked but then heard the sweet lull of a strange musical instrument being played nearby. Blinking a couple of times, the young man glanced around as his eyes adjusted to the gloom and quickly he made out the figures of the others, all present and accounted for but slumbering away quietly after whatever drug had been used to knock them all out. It transpired that they were in a cart which had been covered over with a taught blanket held down by what could only be boxes or something similar. There was a faintly recognisable smell but he couldn't place where it came from though he could hear the occasional 'wark' from somewhere nearby.

Carefully he pushed himself upright, or at least so that he could rest on his elbows though it barely improved his vision of the world around him in the slightest. He heard a groan and twisted his head towards his elder brother as the now matching eyes painfully opened before blinking back the confusion that was rising to his panicked mind. "Kadaj?" he asked quietly, looking up at the young boy, "Where are we?"

The boy shook his head slightly, "I don't know…well I know we're in a cart but that's about it."

Pushing himself up slightly, Yazoo stared around like his younger brother had done and twisted his head to the side as his ears caught the sweet sound of the instrument that was being played, "Are we safe?"

"I wish I knew," Kadaj replied, glancing at the still slumbering figures of Cloud and Sephiroth, wondering not for the first time if they were going to get out of this alive or not. The trundle of the cart gave him some reassurance that they were moving but where was another problem all together.

Thankfully Yazoo saw fit to place his hand lightly on top of his youngest brothers head and slightly ruffle the silver locks, "At least we're still out in the free air though right?" the older boy smiled as he quietly whispered to avoid attracting the attention of whoever was taking them at the moment, "That's got to count for something."

"You sound just like Loz…" immediately Kadaj regretted mentioning that bit of information as he knew Yazoo still harboured some rough feelings about the events of that night. Over the years, Kadaj had tried to reason with the older Yazoo but generally it was brushed off with a 'you'll understand when you're older' remark. Well he was older now and still had no understanding as to why he was annoyed at the other.

Lightly Yazoo sighed, "Humph, I suppose someone has to in these situations." The tone was rather dry and unhelpful but before the younger could even begin to enquire as to what was going on, the cart suddenly stopped moving and voices drifted in through the tarpaulin.

"State you're business," came a voice, clearly a guard or maybe a check-point operator.

There were some muffled whispers in a language that neither brother could understand before a voice, extremely high pitched and sounding like the pink haired character in numerous anime's literally piped up, "We're traders from Wutai and we came here to sell our goods. Unfortunately the market is not what it once was so we're turning around and heading back home."

"What's in this cart?" came the voice of the guard once again but the rest of the conversation was virtually drowned out because at that precise second Cloud started to groan. It wasn't the normal type of groan that most would expect to appear when someone was asleep, it was one of pain and fright and it just continued to get louder and worse.

Doing the only thing he could think of, Kadaj quickly placed his hand over the boy's mouth, shushing him incessantly in panic whilst Yazoo tried to find some form of blanket. Vaguely there were the sounds of shots overhead but the two boys were focused on keeping Cloud as quiet as possible and let out yells of surprise when the cover above them was roughly pulled away.

Yazoo automatically shot back into the rapidly fading darkness, grabbing Kadaj to try and drag him back with him only to find that someone else had reached into the cart and gotten a grip on his brother. Frantically he pulled back but completely forgot to watch behind him and did not see a second man pulling the tarpaulin away. "Kadaj!" he yelled in fright, feeling the grip on his brother suddenly disappearing as he too was grabbed and pulled out of the cart.

"Let me go!" he yelled, trying to wriggle his way out of the grip that was upon him, "let my brother go!"

"Here Mick, they're just a couple of kids, what you suppose this lot wanted with them?" asked the one who was holding tightly onto Yazoo.

Mick glanced at the boy in his arms, who was trying to struggle his way out of the grip as well but wasn't being anywhere as near as noisy, "No idea…probably selling them on as slaves or something when they got back…though those two appear to be a bit old for that."

"Best report this in then right?" said the guard who was still wrestling with Yazoo.

"Aye, best thing to do."

Hidden underneath the cart, disguised currently as a frog after managing to have been duped by an old codger in the market place, the Wutai Princess Yuffie mentally cursed the outcome of this situation. Why couldn't they have crossed the mountain path where there were virtually no checkpoints and those that were there would have been more productively used as firewood.

Still, she vowed to herself that this time there would be no fowl ups and this was just a minor set-back. Granted two of the boys were now safely locked up in the guard's small box office, but that could be resolved with some simple lock picking and then it would be a great save by the Great Ninja Yuffie!

The only problem with Yuffie's plan, of course, was the fact that she didn't know how to pick a lock in the form of the frog. Hell she didn't even know how to get back to her normal appearance and was half worried that when she did change back that she wouldn't be wearing anything. But there again didn't the greatest of the great fight against all the odds and still come though on top?

Well, yes they did, but she couldn't exactly imagine them doing so without clothes on either.

From the cart, there came another groan and a pair of green eyes opened slowly towards the star speckled sky.


	43. Fire Fight

**Discalimer: don't own, never have, never will**

**Authors note: Please note that this is a very dark chapter with blood, violence and an attempted non-con. It's within the rules for the rating but just a heads up to folks incase you don't like that sort of stuff. Please review and tell me what you think however. **

**Fire Fight**

**Kalm**

**What's left of it**

Bits of debris were still burning as they collided with the ground and slowly Eisa was able to push herself up and blearily stare around. It was like one of those horrible nightmares where there was only fire around you and there was no way out. Lightly she shook her head and glanced around; trying desperately to gauge what had happened but found her attention drawn to the bloodied sight of Loz barely fifteen feet away from her. Forgetting her own pain for a few seconds, the girl scrambled desperately over to the silver haired youth and shook him lightly, "Loz?" she said, feeling tears already beginning to run down her cheeks, "Wake up! You can't be out now…please just wake up."

There was no response from the young man and Eisa found more tears flowing down her cheeks though she honestly couldn't say as to why. A soft mewl made her look up and find Kitty looking at her in concern, parts of his fur burnt black but he was still there. Lightly she nodded at him, standing up, "I'll find you some help Loz, I promise," Eisa whispered lightly before hearing the all too familiar clicks of rifles being taken off safety.

"Well well well," said a voice which belonged to a cocky looking lieutenant as she turned around, glad to feel the smooth surface of her staff in her hand, "What do we have here? A pretty little thing."

Glaring at the man, Eisa silently moved into a battle ready stance. She knew fine well that this would be a battle that she would not win, had no chance of winning in the slightest but by the gods she had to do something. These were Shinra grunts and if she could take a few of them out before being forcibly dragged back to that nightmare of a place then by the Aeons themselves she would do it.

"Oh, this one looks like a bit of a fighter," came another grunt's drawl, "have to save some of her for the Captain."

"Who said anything about her going to the captain," said the first, not hiding the fact that he was eyeing Eisa up like a pound of meat, "now you just come here pretty little lady and we'll make everything go nice and easy."

Surprisingly it was Kitty who struck out first, charging forward and slamming into the first grunt with all the extra force that he could find. They collided on the floor and immediately the Liat's teeth were into the soft flesh of the man's neck but before his comrades could even react, millions of slithers of ice wound up against their skin, cutting through the fine layers and drawing blood. There was a yell from somewhere nearby and a plume of fire flew towards Eisa who barely had enough time to deflect the blast before finding herself embroiled in a brawl which on a good day would be a piece of cake.

Of course the only bad thing about good days was that they were virtually impossible to come across when you actually wanted to have them. Plus given that the bomb which had been dropped on the town in order to derail the train had also done a fine number on her physical strength, Eisa quickly found herself overpowered and backing up towards Loz in fear.

These men wouldn't kill her, whilst they were thick-headed morons they weren't going to kill someone with black hair and red eyes because even they knew that Hojo was looking for two of his experiments which had the exact same psychical traits. No, these men had made it clear what they wanted from her and Eisa had virtually nothing left to fight with. It didn't stop her kicking out at the first one who got too close, ensuring to burst his chances of ever having children in the future at the same time, and trying to run as the opportunity presented itself. But these men were stronger, faster and completely unaware that they had been pumped full of Mako to gain that sort of strength.

A man with dark hair grabbed her arms and hauled her back into his body, pressing her back to his front so she could clearly feel every last little bit of him, "I like a girl with some fighting spirit," he commented, kissing her throat whilst the others jeered loudly behind him, "you should definitely prove to be a good catch."

Suddenly Eisa found herself hoisted up and the next second she was on a bench or something similar, her hands forced above her head and held in place by two other grunts. Desperately she struggled, yelling out for help to the half-dead town even though she knew fine well that none would ever come for her. The grunt leaned close, capturing her lips in a bruising kiss before pulling sharply back and ripping the material of her dress to expose her to the general glee of the other men.

They chanted, yelled and jeered on, all of them getting more riled up as more material was ripped away in the most humiliating way possible before a bullet suddenly ripped through the perpetrators head, splattering blood onto Eisa. The assembled men turned as one to stare at the silver haired youth wielding the oddest weapon to their eyes with a murderous glint in his greyish-blue ones, "Let the girl go," he menaced them.

"Or what?" said one of the few who had managed to regain his senses, "you'll shoot us again?"

"Yeah," said another, spitting a little, "If you want to go, you'll have to wait in line…" the man leant down and lightly licked at a bit of exposed flesh.

Loz suddenly let loose a scream and charged towards the group of men, his gunblade barely able to be seen as it spun in a deadly pattern around him. For a moment it appeared that a gold light had coursed around the boy's body and he struck out at anyone who came near him. Finding some renewed strength, Eisa flicked her legs into the faces of the two grunts that were still holding onto her before twisting herself upright with a yell of, "Ifirit!"

The ground rumbled and the very fires of hell appeared to rear up into the night sky, drowning out the ones which were still engulfing the small hamlet of sanctuary as the Fire Aeon pulled himself to his master's command and burnt those who were unworthy to be by her side. When the smoke cleared, Loz remained standing though just barely and Eisa ran to him, pulling herself into his tight embrace. Whether from relief or just a need to know what was real and what wasn't, the girl pulled herself onto her tipeetoes and went to kiss Loz.

There was a sickening crunching noise and she felt the gasp of surprise as Loz's body went rigid before it collapsed down to the ground. "Loz!" Eisa screamed, throwing herself down after him and staring in horror at the long spear which juttered out of the man's back. It was only due to the other wearing frontal body armour that the blade hadn't gone all the way through and struck at her two. "Loz!" she screamed, desperately trying to keep him with her despite the fact that it was clearly not going to be that easy.

Painfully Loz raised his fingers to the girl's cheek and he smiled weakly, "Run…"

Eisa shook her head, trying to pull the boy up whilst incomprehensibly whimpering to him to move before feeling a further stab of pain as a bullet went straight through her shoulder. There was a roar as Kitty leapt upon the shooters head and strove towards the pair, desperately latching onto Eisa's skirt to pull her to move and despite all intentions of staying exactly where she was, flight instinct took in and a burst of Mako saw the girl on her feet and running in the only safe direction that she could see right now, remembering to grab the young Liat cub on the way as she did so.

However less than a minute later she found herself caught in a dead end and despite her attempts to summon one of the many Aeons's who she knew a trusted, her will failed and she crashed to the ground. Teary-eyed she stared up at the men who were approaching her, not wanting to go back to Shinra but literally at the point where there was no option but to go back. The Captain glared at her as he reached down, grabbing a fistful of her hair, "Seems you're quite the little minx. We'll soon have you sorted out though," he snarled, dragging her upright.

Suddenly there was another commotion, though this time Eisa collapsed to the floor and was barely able to follow what was going on anymore. There were shouts and screams, the sounds of guns and swords clashing but none of it made much sense to her. Then a sudden silence, with only the echo's of people panting and calls to ensure that the place was clear. Slowly she became aware that a thick jacket had been placed over her body and the soft hands of a healer had begun to gently glide through her hair. "Loz…" she murmured, coughing abruptly.

"We're seeing to him," came a sweet voice and Eisa twisted herself up to stare at the brown haired girl with green eyes that reminded her of Sephiroth's so much, "he's just sleeping at the moment."

"All clear," came another voice with the sound of approaching boots, "Looks like they basically torched the place to try and get to us."

"Damn it all!" this voice was deeper, lined with a thick and heavy accent and something heavy hit against the wall, "Bloody Shinra laid waste to a town that had nothing to do with…"

The first voice sighed and Eisa quietly blinked as the rest of the conversation continued on. It was like being wrapped in some form of fog, she barely knew what was going on and couldn't hear much. The girl with the green eyes smiled, simply running her hand through her hair in a calming fashion and spoke words but she could barely hear them.

Against her will, her heavy eyes began to close as pure exhaustion called her towards the black oblivion of silence. "Hows this one doing?" came the first voice again, though it was clear, sharp and familiar.

Snapping open her red eyes, it took Eisa a few good seconds to fully comprehend just who she was looking at. The dark blue eyes were the same as ever, along with the spiky black hair but the battled hardened expression made her second guess. That was until the man smiled at something the girl said and despite the pain and confusion running through her mind, Eisa felt joy for the first time in many months, "Zack?"

Barely hearing the word, Zack Fair turned to look at the girl he had presumed until that moment in time was one of the few townsfolk to have escaped the initial blaze and disbelief filtered into his vision for a few seconds. Tears welled up in his eyes moments later as he pulled the girl carefully into his arms and held her tight, "Oh Eisa…I'm sorry."

"You're safe…" she whispered, as her strength failed her, "That is good."

Holding onto her for a few more seconds, Zack gently tilted her into a more natural lying position and wiped away the smudges of soot. He had finally found one of his friends; he had finally saved one of them from the horrors of Shinra. He sighed, shaking his head at the realisation that they were in no worse trouble than they had been before but to know that Eisa was now by his side where he could watch over her; that made him more determined to make sure everything worked.

He glanced towards Jessie and Barrett, "Bring the boy; he looks like he'll be useful in a fight."

"Where the hell are we going? There's nothing around here for miles," said Jessie before her boss could chime in.

Zack shook his head, "I don't know but we've got to get away from here, Shinra will be pouring all over this place in a few hours and personally I don't want to run into them anytime soon."

There was a 'wark' behind them and Corel carefully made her way towards them, eye glistening in the light all around and her pink feathers a complete contrast to the world around. Barrett grinned at the big bird, "Always trust a Chocobo to follow its nose to feed…must be a farm or something around here somewhere. We should head there."

Zack nodded, gently picking up the girl and noting that a small blue Liat cub was growling at him in some confusion, sighed before walking towards the bird to place the girl on the creatures back. Barrett did the same with Loz, managing to balance them perfectly well before picking up the Liat and petting it a bit roughly.

"There see," he said to the creature, "Their both safe. You stick with us and we'll sure to get you a nice big juicy bone."

Aerith couldn't help but chuckle at the situation as she shook her head, "He's such a softy, don't you think?"

Quietly Zack took the girl's hand and followed the bird out of the wrecked town. There was a rumble of thunder in the distance which meant the rain would be back with a vengeance and for once the ex-Solider didn't mind in the slightest.

The night air paused for only a brief moment before the green swirls of those returning to the lifestream rose out of the destroyed town and playfully danced up into the dark sky. The nights killing was over for now, though who knew how long it would be until blade met flesh once again.


	44. Precious Moment

**Disclaimer: Yeah yeah, you know it by now**

**Authors note: Heh finally an update after such a long time. Not the best I'll admit but lifes been rather hetic. Still enjoy and I'll try to get some more stuff out soon but no promises. **

**Precious Moment**

The slow steady rheum of breathing was interrupted with a snort and within the next couple of seconds; Loz was sitting upright with only a slight shiver of pain through his bare back. Immediately his hand sought for his gunblade but it wasn't by his bedroll as it was supposed to be and he looked around in complete panic. Slowly he picked up details, a wooden roof and walls, straw bales and fences where the plumage of a bright yellow bird could be seen. "When?" he asked quietly before coughing harshly and finding himself staring a some hastily cast bandages around his middle.

Pausing, he tried to recall the events before he woke up here and could only vaguely recall a hint of pain and the taste of blood in his mouth. Suddenly he remembered Eisa's terrified face and the men who were attempting to attack her. Leaping to his feet, despite the fact that he should not even be able to properly move in the slightest at the moment, the white haired youth staggered forward, desperate to find the girl and make sure that those bastards paid for what they had done.

Loz got a grand total of seven steps before his body finally communicated to his mind that it hurt a hell of a lot to do this sort of thing and forced him to crumple to the floor with an agonised yell. It was like fire was seeping through his muscles, causing them to contract and expand or not move correctly in some cases. He hissed as something wet crept into his eyes and mouth, recognising the taste only to well but having next to no idea about how it had happened.

Soft and gentle footsteps quickly approached and a gentle hand brushed some of the blood away from his face, "Shhh," came a musical voice that sounded so innocent and sweet to the terrified boy's ears, "It's okay, just relax. You're going to be fine…"

A soft green light extended from her fingers and immediately Loz felt the pain which had been plaguing him lift away completely. He blinked, taking in the woman's appearance through hazy eyes. She had long brown hair and shimmering green eyes which spoke of knowledge and wisdom beyond anything that he had seen in a long time. Her pink attire blurred the worse and he presumed it was a dress which made him think back to his days in the bakery. "Mother?" he whispered before passing out once again, leaving Aerith rather perplexed but still smiling.

"If you want me to be her, then I can be for a short time," she whispered, gently running her hand through the short hair and wondering if it had always been like that or had someone forced it to change. Turning her head at hearing Zack approach, the ancient blinked up at him, "I think he was trying to find Eisa."

Zack nodded, kneeling down next to the fallen figure, "Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. Where the hell's Barrett? He was supposed to be keeping an eye on him?"

Aerith shook her head as she didn't know where the gun-arm man had gone. Carefully the pair picked up the slumbering boy and headed back to the gathered group, lightly placing him next to Eisa as clearly keeping them apart wasn't a good idea. The only reason Loz had been away from the black haired girl was so that Aerith could administer some pretty serious medical sessions on the boy as healing magic didn't always work. Plus being fed a potion whilst unconscious tended to result in rather bad situations.

Zack stared at the pair, sighing lightly and wondering what else he would have to face on this journey. Kitty, the small blue Liat cub who had come with the pair, was currently in the process of bouncing around the fire as is the want to young children but it was easy to notice that he was not straying away from either of his two masters. Shaking his head, Zack looked up at the roof to see a patch of sky up far ahead, dimly lit with stars. "We're going to have to be careful on how long we stay here," he muttered darkly, "Shinra won't be too impressed with having lost a helicopter and a whole host of men."

"Ha," came Barrett's voice, "Considering those fools blew themselves up I don't think they'll be in any hurry to come back here anytime soon."

Zack glared at him, "Where the hell have you been?"

The man grinned, dropping a hefty looking bag onto the floor near the group, "Getting supplies and information, there's a lot of stuff in there so be careful."

Aerith chuckled lightly, patting the ex-soldiers arm to try and calm him down. So many things were happening tonight it seemed but hopefully it would all come to pass as something wonderful in the long run.


	45. Under Control?

**Disclaimer: yeah yeah**

**Authors Note: Hi folks! *watches tumbleweed bounce around* Okay so I know I've taken forever with this but life has been hetic and this chapters a bit unexpected even by my standards. Please enjoy it and the plot bunnies need food so review if you can okay?**

**Under Control?**

"My understanding, professor," came the smooth, slick voice of President Shinra as he stared at one of the greatest minds in the whole of Gaia with the air of someone who is most certainly not pleased to be in this situation and someone better have a good explanation to hand otherwise heads would roll, "that you have everything completely under control and the escaped _volunteers_ would be back in our care within to quote yourself, no more than a day."

The way that the fat man pronounced 'volunteers' would have been more than enough for even the most steadfast dragon in the known world to want to suddenly place all of it's stolen treasure horde in a deep dark hole and remain there guarding it for all eternity. In fact there were rumours that such a thing had happened once long ago but there was no confirmation of it.

"But it has now been over three weeks since the attack on ourselves and the convoys and what do I have to show for all the time, manpower and money that has been sunk into this project?" Shinra didn't even pause to give anyone in the room a chance to answer, "Five hundred and fifty dead men, two missing platoons and an entire helicopter squad to replace because according to the reports one of the famed summons flew directly into our establishment and destroyed them all!"

By now the enraged man was shouting his head off, bits of spit flying in all directions. A few of the less brave men had slunk back a bit, hiding from the devastating wrath that belonged only to the President. Only two men remained exactly where they were supposed to be. One a Turk who had seen worse outbursts in his long service and one Hojo, the insane scientist who had promised to build an army of super humans for Shinra so many years ago. It was slightly un-nerving to see the man just standing there, staring at the President through his small birdlike eyes with a faint knowing smile on his face. If he was pretending to not be flummoxed by this situation then he was definitely not as mad as they said he was.

"I want answers Hojo!" screamed Shinra, "and I want them now!"

For a second or two there was nothing but silence and then the Scientist began to laugh. It was mirthless, cruel and filled with an underlying malice. Starting off quietly, it grew in volume and pitch until the entire room echoed back the strange sound constantly. "You want answers sir," Hojo said, his eyes ablaze with a fire that not even his longest serving and closest assistants had seen, "then I shall give you answers. Though you will not live long enough to either like or dislike them!"

With movement which should have not been possible by any standard, Hojo pulled a gun from within a hidden pocket and launched himself at Shinra. He paused for a fraction of a second once they had crash landed on the floor to smile at the clearly confused and heavily troubled Shinra, "you cannot capture my beloved specisms because I made them to be the best, the most devastating things that have ever walked the planet and they shall not be beaten by the likes of you. Goodbye sir! I'll ensure that your vision for world dominance is only a mere shadow in comparison to the world that I shall create!"

The gunshot ran out only once, the bullet passing straight through the realisation of events in the President's mind before ending his existence forever. Blood splattered the floor and Hojo's coat but the man only laughed dangerously before rising to find himself surrounded by a whole team of soldiers with the menacing looking Turk right in the mix of things. "You wish to play as well?" the madman asked with all the glee of a kid at Christmas, "That's perfectly fine with me."

Shooting his hand forward, a dark grey mist swirled immediately from it and the room filled with black creatures covered in decaying bones. They growled and tore through flesh and bone, killing was their only purpose, their only call in life and they did so with such a relish that it was impossible to not believe that they weren't hounds from the very depths of hell. There came screams of confusion, the outcry for people to work together, gun shots, howls, the sound of materia being desperately pulled into action. The chaos was almost biblical in proportion but it barely lasted two minutes.

In the silence that followed, Hojo just stared and pressed a button on the President's…no correction _his_ desk…to start an announcement which would be heard in every last sector of the mass structure and all throughout Midgar as well if he had the setting right which he did. "To the people of Shinra Electrical Company, the citizens of Midgar and those pesky terrorists out in the world who cause us all nothing but pain, bother and stress this is a message to say that from now on you have absolutely nothing to worry about. My name is Hojo and I'm declaring a rule of Martial Law."

There was an immediate change in the atmosphere, even the mad scientist could feel it all the way up here, "All civilians are to return to their dwellings for cataloguing and all solider units are to wait for further orders from their commanders. Any one caught trying to flee the city or the slums will be shot on sight without question."

He paused for a moment to let the shocking realisation set in before grinning to himself, "Oh and any members of AVALANCE who think that they can use this to their advantage I will inform you now that there are a selection of DNA bombs littered throughout the city which will be activated the second that they detect your life signs. I suggest that you do not attempt anything so rash as to put children's lives at risk, lay down your weapons and gather at the stone angle by tomorrow afternoon and I may just give you a second chance at living."

Cutting off the communicator with a satisfied smirk, Hojo leaned back and felt the pressure of hands wrapping around his body, "Is all to your satisfaction my love?"

"Yes," Jenova replied in a sickly sweet tone, "Together we shall rule the world and then take on the cosmos."


	46. A Talking Frog

**Disclaimer: Yeah you all know by now**

**Authors note: Well...hello anyone whose actually still reading this, I'll be highly surprised but meh. My goal is to get this finished off properly so I've got a plan - of sorts - to get that done. Anyway, here's three new chapters after god knows how long so enjoy, read and possibly review?**

**A Talking Frog**

"I'm telling you," said Yazoo, trailing only slightly behind the bigger figure of his brother who was carrying the still unconscious Cloud, "That frog has been following us for the past few days."

Sephiroth rolled his eyes skyward but refrained from comment on the situation. They had been travelling virtually none stop for the last few weeks and had managed to get completely lost. He had no real idea where they were, but with the presence of the rain that had decided to show up recently he was not in the mood for silly little games. In one way he knew it was wrong to be mad at Yazoo for such things as really he didn't have much of a clue of the outside world but right at this moment in time, Sephiroth was tired and definitely getting to the point of irritated.

Kadaj blinked, staring between the two before sighing and shaking his head. This really was getting them no where and idly he cast his green eyed gaze up to the higher mountains. For a few seconds he blinked, thinking that his general tiredness was causing them to pick up things that weren't there but since the small glimmer of light didn't shift from it's position he knew that he was right. "Look," he said, pointing a finger up at the dot, "There's a light up there."

Shifting his perception, the eldest of the quadrupeds followed the pointed finger and also spotted the light. He frowned, feeling highly relieved but also concerned about it. If it were simple travellers then everything would be okay but if not…his eyes glanced over to the blond who still trailing across his shoulders was looking half-dead. Sephiroth got the impression that just maybe the other was aware of things, that he knew what was going on and in some twisted form was trying to protect them. Dismissing the thought for the time being, the elder cast his eyes over the two bedraggled looking boys he had picked up and knew that they could go no further. It was a risk but one that they had to take.

"Let's just hope that the Gods are on our side tonight," he murmured before shifting Cloud to lay a little easier as he began up the slope. For a second he thought that he heard a giggle behind him but dismissed it as nothing more than his mind playing tricks on him because he was so exhausted.

The light stayed warm looking and bright, the closer they got to it, but Sephiroth erred on the side of caution rather than go running head long into a situation they couldn't get out of. "Kadaj, Yazoo," he whispered when they were almost on top of the light source, "Stay here and keep an eye on Cloud."

"But," both younger boys started together before receiving a sharp glare from the man they respected as their big brother.

"I'm going to check that everything is safe and well, we don't need another blood trail following us," he smiled lightly at the pair, making sure that Cloud was still safe upon the ground before creeping up the slope further.

He hoped that this all wasn't another Shinra Patrol that had taken shelter from the downpour but just as he peeked up over the edge onto the path, something small, fairly heavy and rather slimy landed on his head and forced it down. The next second it was gone and raising his eyes in surprise, he found himself staring at a large, squat frog that appeared to know exactly what it was doing. Its beady black eyes bore into his before it turned and with a croak leapt clearly towards the source of light. "Wait!" Sephiroth hissed, trying to grab the creature but missed by a fair distance.

Pausing to take stock of the situation, the white haired man had to wonder if he was hallucinating or not but found himself jumping back in surprise when the frog appeared back in his line of vision and chirrupy said, "It's okay, someone's decided to be nice to the lot of you!"

"They have?" Sephiroth stupidly asked before suddenly glaring daggers and grabbing the frog, "What the hell are you?"

The frog somehow managed to look highly hurt with an expression that was just a little too human for his liking, but then huffed, "I am the great ninja princess Yuffie!" it said in a voice that was distinctly female and reminded him of a bratty teenaged girl who used to live in his home, "Can't you tell?"

Grabbing one of the creature's legs, mainly to stop it wriggling, Sephiroth raised a sceptical eyebrow, "You're a frog."

"Well obviously at this moment in time yes, mister state the obvious, but I think you might have gotten the hint when me and my brave band saved your sorry arses out there!" Yuffie continued to ramble on but Sephiroth ignored her for the time being, there seemed no point in correcting the fact that she had done nothing of the sought though he had to begrudgingly admit that she had helped him.

Standing up he approached the light to discover that it was in fact a small enclosed fire, protected by some form of magic and the overhanging cave had been smoothed out rather strangely. There were a number of boxes scattered around, with words like food, medicine, clothing and weapons written on them and sleeping rolls. But the thing which most caught the eye of Sephiroth was a necklace that was hanging on a natural shelf nearby. It was a tarnished silver colour and appeared to be in the shape of three heads that were laced with a fine set of golden beads. "Cerberus," he muttered quietly to himself, finally shutting Yuffie up as he picked it up in his fingers.

Almost immediately a spinning orb of light leapt up from the centre of the disc and glowed bright for a few moments. "What was that?" Yuffie asked, causing the white haired man to snap out of his trance like state and blink in confusion. Running his thumb over the metal, he didn't answer her question, instead putting the necklace around his neck and dropping the frog onto a nearby box.

A couple of moments later, Cloud, Yazoo and Kadaj were all in the same cave and glad to be resting somewhere safe. Yazoo stared at the frog and pointed a finger at it, "That's the frog I keep on telling you about!"

"Her name's Yuffie," Sephiroth replied, picking up a box and flicking out a small marble that was distinctly yellow in colour, "And she's a princess apparently." Pointing his fist at her, the light shot at the frog and two seconds later the Wutai princess was standing, staring at the four young men whom she would be doing her best to protect and aware of only a slight blush on the eldest man's face. "What?" she asked before something wrapped around her head and knocked her down.

"Put some clothes on," Sephiroth muttered, snapping the box of Materia closed and kept his eyes adverted, "that's the last thing that I need to see right now."


	47. Chicken Soup

**Disclaimer: FANfiction**

**Chicken Soup**

A slight grumbling was the only thing that alerted Tifa to the fact that Vincent was awake, as she had accidentally passed out due to pure exhaustion. She blinked her dark eyes at him, watching as the demon possessed man slowly pushed himself upright, muscles straining with the effort but seeming to adapt themselves and change constantly. A gnarled hand rubbed at his forehead, the flesh torn, bruised and blistered but slightly healed. She couldn't begin to imagine what had been done to the limb but the fact that it was still moving was something to be highly admired. Vincent gently opened his eyes which snapped shut with a hiss of pain before carefully being opened again with several hundred more blinks that would be normal for a human.

Tifa was only slightly disturbed by seeing that once or twice there was another set of blinking that went sideways across his eyes as well. A sharp sniffing noise came from the man and slowly he looked around in total confusion before taking a slightly guarded expression as he finally spotted Tifa watching him silently from the opposite bunk that served as a temporary bed. "Who are you?" he asked voice dark and dangerous but not in any way that frightened her.

Sitting up, the martial artist smiled at him, "I'm Tifa, Tifa Lockheart. I helped you get out of that Island Research Lab."

For a moment Vincent was quiet, tilting his head to the side as if he were having an inner conversation. Actually it was more of an inner argument because Chaos was trying to calm down Galian Beast because it knew exactly where it was and there was a good stash of bones hidden somewhere nearby. Eventually the black haired man got what he wanted to know out of the group and sighed before shaking his head, "I'm surprised we got this far without being recaptured…but thank you."

"No worries," Tifa said with a grin, "Just you wait until we meet up with the others, they're going to have a field day with me."

"Others?" Vincent asked before sniffing the air again and turning his head in the general direction of the kitchen, "Why can I smell chicken soup?"

Glad to have another topic of conversation for a short time, Tifa grinned, "The lady who's taken us in is making some. Says it's the best in the world and always wakes you up."

Looking highly confused by the statement, he was about to ask further about that question when suddenly there came the soft steps of someone approaching and immediately Vincent turned to snarl and prepare for battle. However when Grace Fair walked around the corner, carrying two bowls of her infamous soup, he found himself thrown into a state of pure shock.

Grace for her part didn't notice that Vincent was up, more concerned with placing the bowls down onto a safe flat surface with a sigh, "Ha, not even a single drop spilt. That's good housekeeping for you as I always say."

Tifa just smiled and giggled a little, causing Grace to frown amusedly at her for a few seconds before she turned and found herself embraced in a tight hug by Vincent. "Whoa, there," she said, pushing him back a little before laughing aloud, "See, I told you he would wake up for my chicken soup, no one can ever resist it because it's the best in the world!"

"I see you haven't lost your optimism Grace," Vincent said before slumping slightly and having to be placed back onto the bunk by the bulky woman who proceeded to scold him a thousand times over in a good natured way and wouldn't let the pair talk about anything else until they had both finished the bowl of soup which had been provided for them. It was rare these days to get chicken soup; Grace reminded them on more than one occasion, so it was best to eat it whilst it was still hot.

Vincent smiled as the older woman left to go and sort out the dishes, shaking his head ever so slightly, "I never realised how much I would miss her fussing."

"Hmmm," Tifa said, "Zack said that she was a fuss pot but it's nice that it's in such a good way."

Raising an eyebrow at her, Vincent silently asked the question which was plaguing his mind for most of the time since he had woken up. Tifa sighed, checked that Grace was not listening in and took a deep breath before saying, "I'm part of AVALANCHE, well actually I run the bar where they meet now even though Barrett's the only original member. We're determined to take Shinra down but Zack's more concerned with freeing your two children from their clutches."

Vincent nodded slowly, telling her to proceed. "By chance I found out where they were holding you, the others don't realise that I can hack pretty good these days. So I snuck away from them in order to get you out of the place."

"And the black matter you poured into the tank?" Vincent asked, receiving multiple mental prods from Chaos to find out about that.

"A special extra from me," Tifa said with a grin, "don't worry, it's more like a mega stimulant. Question is what do we do now"?

Vincent paused for only half a second, mainly to mentally bat Chaos's hand to stop the prodding before nodding, "I should be fully healed by morning. As long as your friends have held out long enough it should be relatively easy to find them right?"

"If you're heading back to Midgar," came Grace's voice, startling them both, "I wouldn't recommend it."

Instead of explaining, she passed them the latest news sheet which contained nothing but the new rules that were being implemented under the martial law imposed by Professor Hojo. Vincent cursed and growled but Tifa only studied the information more intently before nodding, "We can use this to our advantage."

"What?"

Pointing to a small section which both had missed, Tifa smiled, "They're still hunting for the members of AVALANCHE and some escaped experiments which mean's that everyone's out of the city at the very least. The only places around there that are vaguely habitable are Kalm, the chocobo farm which will always be neutral territory and the mountain pass. If you think about it they can't have gotten much further than that in the last few days, not even the fastest chocobo in the world could do such a thing."

Vincent nodded, going over the details more carefully and consulting his mental map of the area. Sometimes having been a Turk was a handy thing to have been. "We'll have to rule out Kalm, as it appears to have been ravaged by an unknown force" Grace supplied the obvious name as to who that could be, "so that leaves the farm and the mountains. It's going to be dangerous though, Hojo may be a sadistic bastard but he's intelligent and will have worked out the same information as us."

Tifa nodded, "But we may just have a bit of luck on our side. If he's busy putting himself into ruling Midgar he may be recalling his troops which gives us a window of opportunity."

"You're not going to the mountains," Grace said with fierce determination, "There have been multiple attacks up there, not by wild animals either. Whole platoons have gone missing due to a single assailant."

The gunslinger and martial artist spared a glance; it was a clue and a half to go off. "I'm sorry Grace, but things have got to be done. I will not allow Hojo or Shinra to take over the world and destroy it. It's not fair on anyone else."

"Plus we'll be all right," Tifa said with a grin, "We've got some really good fighters on our side."

Grace sighed, shaking her head, "But if you die-"

"Then the world will die with no one to defend it," came the stoic reply, "I can't allow that. Not in the slightest."

The woman still looked highly annoyed by the prospect but nodded and suddenly thrust her fist into the palm of her hand, very much like the way that Zack did when he had made up his mind, "Then you'll be needing weapons and I think I've got just the thing for you."

As she disappeared, Tifa glanced towards Vincent with a raised eyebrow, copying his earlier method without really realising it. The older man shook his head and sighed, "Whatever she gives you take, Grace isn't a fighter but she knows a lot about such things."


	48. Kisses

**Disclaimer: Again FANfiction**

**Kisses**

Having been blissfully unaware that his first proper kiss with Eisa had been witnessed by several different sets of eyes, Loz somehow managed to keep his embarrassment to nothing more than just a slight colouring of his cheeks. But there again he was in protection mode and since he definitely did not recognise any of the people around him, other than Eisa and Kitty of course, he barely had time to think straight let alone take stock of their situation. Zack lightly held his hands up to prove that he had no weapon to hand and silently indicated to the others that they should also put down their weapons. "Its okay kid," he said gently, "We're not going to hurt you in the slightest. You have my word on that."

Feeling Eisa shift slightly from the one armed hug that he had her in at the moment, the white haired man looked down in questioning. Eisa nodded before gulping slightly, "He's Zack Fair, you can trust him."

Obviously taken aback by not having to introduce himself, Zack sat back on his haunches in surprise and blinked at the girl as she was finally able to wriggle away from Loz. He had given her his body-warmer since he still had a shirt on underneath because her clothes were completely destroyed beyond repair. "You remember me?"

"It's pretty hard to forget you," Eisa snapped at him, glaring only slightly, "What the hell happened Zack! You could have warned us or something!"

"If I had know believe me I would have done!" he countered almost immediately before standing up and rushing to the girl's side, pulling her into a tight holding hug and sighing, "I'm sorry, I truly am Eisa. I've been trying for so long…please believe me I've been trying!"

For a few long second's the girl was silent, aware of a slight yellow haze in front of her eyes but not commenting on it. She blinked, seeing images of countless things, strange locations, databanks, guards, detention duty, prison cells, opportunities to escape and a whole host of other. It was strange being able to see someone else's memories like this but even if she had never seen them, Eisa would have never doubted the word of her elder brother's best friend in the entire world. Lightly she sighed, pulling him a little closer and tried to stop the tears from falling, "I believe you, completely."

Aerith watched the pair and smiled lightly, they had other things to discuss and danger was an ever present factor which would mean that they would have to move soon but right now they needed this. So many years of worry, fright and terror could not be easily erased and forgotten about. Relief was only a temporary measure most of the time. Instead her eyes focused on Loz, seeing how the other was strong and bold but clearly knew the same as she did. However his eyes betrayed him slightly, that maybe he knew more than he let on but the Ancient presumed that it was just the trick of the light or else something very similar.

However it was Barrett who brought the situation to an rather abrupt close, "I understand that you two ain't seen each other in a while but we've got big problems coming our way unless we don't get our asses moving sometime soon."

Zack half-glared at the other but nodded reluctantly, "I hate to admit that you're right but we have to get going. Do you two feel up to moving?"

Eisa nodded before turning towards Loz who flexed his fingers experimentally. It was one of his quirks that she still hadn't quite figured out correctly in her head. The next second he was standing up and looking as if absolutely nothing was wrong with him, "Yup, I can move no problems."

"I wonder about you sometimes you know that?" Eisa said playfully before raising up herself along with Zack and glanced out to the lightening sky, "Where are we going to go? There's not exactly many places to hide around here."

"There's a cave system not too far away," Barrett said, having somehow wrestled Kitty into his arms to stop the blue creature from wriggling around too much, "Got a couple of bun worms in it but Shinra won't go anywhere near the place. Especially since the last group got clobbered into bite sized chunks."

"So that's where you went then is it?" Aerith asked, indicating the bag of objects from before, "I did have to wonder."

Loz shared a glance with Eisa who only smiled at him and interlinked their fingers briefly before placing another kiss on his lips. He smiled, pulling her close and holding her for a few seconds. He had always feared rejection but now knew that he had been running away from the threat of acceptance far more.

"Oi love birds!" Barrett called, "Come on, we've got to get a move on."

Sharing a quick nod, the pair hurried after the disappearing figures but not before Loz had left a hastily written note to the owner saying that Corel was his in exchange for the stay. He didn't want to leave the pink creature but she was far too old and it would be better for her to live out the rest of her life in peace and quiet. "Goodbye old girl, you stay here and stay safe okay?"

"Kweh?" the bird tilted her head to the side before lightly pecking at his hair. Loz smiled as he petted her one last time before turning and running to catch up with the others. No one noticed that Kitty scrambled up the back of Corel, pulled out an indicated pink fluffy feather and scampered off after them.


	49. Our Children

**Dislaimer: Fanfiction people, fanfiction**

**Authors Note: Whoot, three more chapters on the way for you guys and definately the beginning to the end, but just what is going to happen? Read on to find out. **

**Our Children**

"My main concern is how do we get things set back to how they were," came the voice of a large demon with a slightly odd lopsided look that no one had commented on. There were just some things that weren't mentioned to the Sand Weapon from the desert and appearance was one of them.

The others shifted uncertainly, as this was not the sort of conversation they really wanted to be having. Yes they had all been fully aware of the dangers when they had allowed the change but now things were beyond all proportions. If they had let things been then disaster would have come regardless but this new set of events appeared to have no conclusion to them. It appeared as if one catastrophe after another was building up and soon there would be no one left to stop the demise. Whilst they all had their role to play, this was slowly getting out of control and there appeared to be nothing that could slow down the reeling world.

Gaia half-heartedly glared at the Sand Weapon before shaking her head, "May I remind you that you were the one who suggested that we change things for the better?"

"It wasn't only him, my lady," replied Ruby Weapon, "We all agreed to it in the hopes that it would make the calamity never rest upon this planet for longer than it was needed. We started this whole thing and it is no ones fault but ours."

Chaos, having left Vincent sleeping, shook his head, "Next you'll be telling us that Nero and Omega are being called into existence. That is something I personally don't wish to occur as of yet and if it means-"

"Why?" asked Ruby, turning her head towards the demon that would eventually spell death for all of them.

Chaos looked suitably unsure, "Why what?"

"Why don't you want Nero and Omega called into existence?" Ruby persisted, taking a general tone of someone who is just curious to avoid getting yelled at, "I was of the understanding that the girl has part of their souls in her blood."

There was silence for a few seconds as all the gathered gods and weapons stared at Chaos who seemed to think his answer before saying it aloud. "She does but neither have ever truly awoken in her. If they did then she would loose all of her humanity and not be able to control their actions. Eisa Valentine was the one thing that was not predicted in our endeavour."

"The demon child who can destroy all," a new voice said, belonging to possibly the strangest being out of the assembled troops, "The everlasting plague who desires nothing more than just one day of being truly mortal."

"How do you know of her?" Chaos asked, glaring at the figure and still not happy about the things presence, "and why do you speak as if you know her path."

Izarra smiled lightly, though it was half hidden by the long black robe she wore, "Because that is why I am here. Eisa was not supposed to be born into the world at this time, she is not meant to be born for countless upon countless generations. Her path here is not true and wavers daily back and forth like a leaf lost in the wind."

"So then," Gaia started, looking closely at the figure, "You are a future messenger from Cosmos then as I first suspected?"

Izarra nodded, "In one respect I am in another I am not. I am only here to make sure that the girl returns to where she ought to be, along with those who have other parts to play."

There was a snarl, though who it came from was hard to tell, "The trio belong to us, they are not yours to toy with."

Turning her head towards Weapon, the figure seemed to bow long and low, "That they are indeed but something has changed within them that reflects what occurs in my time and not yours."

"Is it possible to change things now?" Chaos asked carefully, wanting to stop any long arguments before they started.

Izarra shook her head, "Not with things the way they are. The plot must be played out but we can take a hand in deciding the fate of the plot. Once it is complete then we can interfere and cause everything to go back to how it should be but I must warn you to be careful as if this land does not go back to the exact way that it was then everything will be destroyed and no one shall ever have the chance to rectify it all again."

The assembled weapons stared at one another, as if trying to read the thoughts of the others before coming to the general conclusion that they were all on the same agreement level. The only one who felt just a little on the guilty side was Chaos because he would have to destroy one of his greatest projects. But there were sacrifices to be made and it would be fun to torment Vincent again, rather than be a sort of ally and friend. "Since we're all in agreement," Gaia's voice was resolute and gentle, "How do we take a hand in sorting out the fate of this plot?"

Pulling out her hand, which was clenched around something tightly, Izarra walked up to a grand looking table where a map of the world lay. Without activating the complicated device which would let them decide the fate, she dropped two rather heavy sounding bone dice onto the table which skittered across the top until they came to a stop. They were odd looking, having many faces that swirled with different numbers and pictures that went back and forth constantly but there was a sense in the air that once they were being used for real then they would remain on one particular image.

"Dice with twenty faces?" asked Sand Weapon, looking around, "I haven't played this game in quite a while. Let's see what we can create together."


	50. Reunion

**Reunion **

Feeling like he was being forcibly pushed against the wind, Vincent wanted to sigh and slap Chaos around but was aware that such a thing was not possible to do. For one odd thing the demon was being extremely quiet and had that highly broody quality which made him feel uneasy and slightly worried. If Chaos was ever broody it usually meant someone needed to be killed and the demon knew that he was in for a long fight to convince the human that it had to be done. Though there was something different about this brooding, something far more tangible and questioning, almost as if he knew what was going on and was trying to act notionally about it.

_Go left_ said demon's voice sneered inside his mind _head to the mountain pass. _

_That will delay our journey _Vincent reminded the demon before wincing as he physically felt the slap across the back of his head which made Tifa look up at him with great concern.

Chaos's reply was even more irritated than usual which was highly worrying but indicated that he had no choice but to follow the orders, _That doesn't matter, this is a delay that is needed! Now bloody well get a move on before I make you fly into a rock as a lesson in behaving yourself. _

Opting not to reply, Vincent spread his wings a little further and twitched them so that they began a low and steady circle towards the mountains. He had well learned his lesson about flying straight into the gun's of hunters and didn't particularly feel like getting into that situation.

Blinking her large brown eyes, Tifa frowned at the change in direction but knew that it was impossible to talk at any great length at this height without causing some form of hassle to the other. Instead she twisted her head around to try and find out what possibly he could be aiming for when her keen eyes spotted what appeared to be the light of a small fire with just a distant shimmer of some form of protection barrier around it. Before she met Vincent she would have said that it was very strange but not it was just reduced down to a case of being odd.

Ten minuets later they landed on the long winding path that lead to the same spot and Vincent made sure she had her feet before letting her go and turning back into a recognisable human. She smiled, "That cloak suits you actually."

"I'm surprised that Grace kept it to be truthful," the reply was grunted, almost as if he weren't overly sure as to what this situation meant.

"Chaos tell you to land?" her eyes wandered back to the light which could be clearly seen from where they were, "To go towards that little camp?"

Vincent gave her a look which was mainly out of surprise given how good she had been able to read the situation, "You've been talking to him or something?"

"Nope," Tifa shook her head which caused her long black hair to dance back and forth, "Just taking a wild guess is all."

"Keep that to yourself or you might just end up with a demon inside you one of these days Tifa," Vincent said, before starting to take a few semi-unconfident steps towards the light.

The martial artist shuddered, "No thanks, I wouldn't want to ruin my chances of running Seventh Heaven. If I turned into a nasty demon whenever I got angry all of my patrons would run away."

Rolling his red eyes, Vincent shook his head but couldn't quite hide the grin which pulled at his features. Tifa was definitely something else all together and so full of hope, she reminded him painfully of Lucy but pushed those thoughts out of his mind. Right now they had to deal with a lit cave which Chaos wanted them to go to. Hopefully it wouldn't be a set up encounter to check that both of them could still fight, he had more than enough experience of that at the moment. By Cosmos he sounded like such a geek there, though he had to love the fact that he could still remember the days when his children used to spend hours playing on one of those noisy computer games despite the fact that it was on a really crappy television and tended to cut out after five hours of game play.

Both of them came to a natural stop when they neared the barrier which sparkled slightly in the distant starlight up above. Turning her brown eyes upwards, Tifa silently asked the question which was met with a nod after a couple of seconds pause from Vincent.

Taking a deep breath, the girl stepped forward and found no ill effects came about from the barrier but did quickly find the point of a rather large shuriken gently pressed against her neck. Immediately she held her hands up in defence to show that she meant no harm, "Erm hi."

The girl frowned at her slightly in confusion before glancing up as Vincent finally entered the light as well, clearly from having another argument with Chaos by how tired he looked. "How have you just gotten through that barrier?" the little ninja asked in a voice just above a whisper which was confusing, "We've been trying for hours and haven't been able to so much as leave….hoi! What do you think you are doing?"

Ignoring the girl completely, Vincent had staggered forward with a barely strangled gasp of air. Lying in a sleeping roll was Kadaj and Yazoo, looking a whole lot healthier than what they had done the last time he had set eyes upon them. However his eyes were directed elsewhere, to a blond little cadet who was half slumped over in one corner with slightly glowing eyes that seemed to be watching him steadily. There was familiarity there but he couldn't be one hundred per cent certain about who it was.

It was then a groan reached his ears and sharply he turned his head to find a pair of sleepy green eyes staring up at him from a face which he never thought he would ever see again. Before he knew what he was doing, the gunslinger was on the floor, hauling the silver haired man into the tightest possible hug that he could and feeling the sting of tears in his eyes but for once he just didn't care. Sephiroth for his part took the sudden hug well for a few seconds before pushing back roughly to snarl, "Who the he-" before he was struck by a wave of familiarity and virtually threw himself back into the other's arms.

Vincent closed his eyes as he sent thousands upon thousands of prayers of thanks up to any and all of the gods who were prepared to listen to him now but not a word passed between the pair of them. There was no need for words, just the silence of heartfelt acceptance that they were here, back together and nothing could change this moment.

Tifa quietly pushed the shuriken away from her throat and smiled benignly at the confused Yuffie, "Father and son," she said simply with a smile, "They've been looking for one another for a long time."

"Wow, cool," Yuffie said in the most pedantic of understatements ever before grinning, "Well I guess I don't have to worry about you two being the bad guy's then do I?"

Before the martial artist could react, there came another groan but this time from the little blond cadet. His head had raised just a little on its own and the slightly lost eyes had spotted the girl. Fingers reached out desperately and within seconds Tifa was across the space and clasping that hand, "Cloud?" her voice was unbelieving and pretty much stricken with worry but it was also filled with hope.

"T…Ti….fa?" a tiny lost voice asked as the eyes radiated confusion and misunderstanding from the boy which strangely only produced tears of joy from Tifa. She nodded and then closed the distance between them, placing a kiss on his lips, soft and sweet, "Yes, it's me. I finally found you."

For a few seconds there was only confused silence from the blond before a virtual change took place, the stiffness went out of the shoulders and the gaunt angles softened. Cloud blinked a few times in confusion, before blushing almost scarlet at realising how close the girl was to him, "Tifa?" he asked again out of shock before glancing around the cave as if he didn't recognise it, "Where are we?"

Yuffie raised an eyebrow in surprise and shook her head, "Okay, this is seriously getting weird."


	51. Making Plans

**Making Plans**

Part 1

"It's a pretty crazy plan," Barrett said, chewing on the end of some piece of dried pasta which they had found during their scavenges of the destroyed town, "But I like it. I've only got one question though."

"How are we going to make the bombs?" Aerith chipped in with a grin, "and how do we actually get them within the confines of Midgar without getting stopped by one of the patrols."

Barrett chuckled and shook his head, "Heh never thought the day would come when I would see a fighter coming out of you girl. But she does have a point, how do we manage half of that when we take into consideration the small fact that we've also got a big bloody bounty on our heads and if Shinra or whoever is in charge catches wind of us we'll be blown away by a hail of bullets quicker than one of those airships crashing."

Everyone turned their eyes to Zack, waiting for him to explain this part of the plan. For a moment the ex-solider was slightly unsure of himself and definitely appeared to be out of sorts but then he nodded, "It's simple really…diversionary tactics."

"No," Loz cut in, looking deadly serious, "That won't work and it puts us all in a great deal more danger."

Cold blue eyes turned to the green ones with a frown in them, "What do you mean by that? Diversionary tactics always work."

Loz took a deep breath before letting it out slowly and deliberately, "This isn't some meat-head general who's in charge at the moment Zack. Hojo is a scheming scientist and even though it sickens me to the core to say it, he's got a good way of thinking up in that silly bounce of his. If we start a diversionary plan he'll immediately guess that we're after something else and will target the most likely areas with whatever he has to in order to reduce the threat there. He knows the layout of this god-awful city like the back of his hand and will stop at nothing to ensure it is completely under his control."

There was silence for a few long, horrible seconds which was only broken by a hiccup from Kitty who was in the process of finishing off a bone he had found somewhere along the line. It was then that Eisa opened her eyes for the first time, having been half-asleep on Loz's lap for the past few hours. Zack knew that she would be aware of what was going on, as she had the uncanny ability from childhood to be fast asleep yet aware of all that was going on around her, so hadn't bothered to wake her up.

"Loz," Eisa said, almost appearing to carefully select her words, "Didn't you escape from Shinra without detection?"

Blinking rapidly a few times, Loz looked confused but then shuddered, "Yeah."

"How?" both Zack and Barrett asked in the same instance.

Loz looked uncomfortable once again and sighed, "There's an underground tunnel system…I think it was originally part of a water works or something but I couldn't be honestly sure about that. It was pretty far gone when I scrambled around in it," he trailed off, looking away for a second but was brought back by Eisa gently running her fingers up and down his arm, "it's full of monsters, evil things from a time which I don't even want to think about."

Zack pondered things for a few seconds, "Where does it come out?"

"The dump," Loz said, not taking his eyes off Eisa in the slightest, "but that's even worse than the tunnels. We would be lucky to…" suddenly his eyes shot up and he shook his head, "No Zack, I'm not going back through that path."

"But what if it's been abandoned?" Zack raised his eyebrows, "If it was part of the old water system then virtually no one will bother with it now. Plus I don't really think a few monsters are going to bother us these days."

Loz shuddered, "You don't know what they are."

Barrett sighed, "Look kid, I know it sounds scary and all that but I'm pretty sure that it's a far better option than trying to take on hordes of soldiers and running the risk of being captured again. Besides, we've got a good strong group here so I think we should be pretty good to go."

The white haired youth fell into silence once again, not meeting anyone's eyes even when Eisa suddenly stood up and stretched. "The dump you say?" she asked, turning to grin at him with a bit of a knowing smirk.

Green eyes turned in a panic to her, "Eisa."

"What? It's not like I'm going there to actually face the monsters or anything," she said with a bit of fainted innocence, "But if I remember rightly there should be a whole host of stuff we can use for bombs and detonators and diversionary tactics. Hojo was notorious for throwing away stuff that he thought was useless like that."

Aerith nodded, "I remember hearing stories about that place from a local peddler, said that it was filled with weapons and all sorts of other things."

Zack grinned at the despondent looking Loz, "Don't worry about it mate, you'll learn that all women are manipulating demons when they want to – ow!"

Rolling his eyes, Loz sighed and stood up, but was shaking his head, "If this turns out to be as half as bad as I remember I'm not being held responsible."

Hugging him, Eisa smiled, "Don't worry, we're together and that's the main thing. We get the bombs, head into the city undetected and blow up the reactors before anyone has half the chance to find out it's us. Pretty much a fool proof plan if you think about it."

"Yeah, until the monsters come and try to eat you up," Barrett said with a grin before hoisting Kitty off the floor, "Or a certain blue cretin I know tries to eat your weapons. Give over you little terror, we have much to do."

The group shared a glance and quickly gathered up their things to begin the trek back to Midgar, just this time via the dump at the southernmost end. The cool night air was refreshing but didn't quite lift the feeling of worry from the group. Eisa paused for a fraction of a second, catching a faint whiff of something on the air before smiling and continuing on.

Whilst their plan wasn't exactly the most sensible or the most practical either, it was the start of something. Eisa could only hope that it was finally a beginning to an end but where that end would take them was anyone's guess.

Part II

"So Hojo finally shows his hand does he?" Vincent said in a low voice which was most definitely enough to make the two younger boys shiver but thankfully Tifa was keeping them under control for the time being. If truth be told, Yazoo and Kadaj had rather taken to the young woman without much hassle; though Sephiroth had a feeling he understood their reasoning. In all their travels, other than the irksome Yuffie, they hadn't come across any real women who could make a fuss of the pair and care for them. Neither had really had a mother in their lives, though apparently Loz could remember a time when they did, and it only made sense that since she had shown them a bit of kindness that they had latched onto her like baby ducklings.

Cloud seemed just as confused but the elder put that down to the fact that he was clearly caught up emotionally about his feelings for the black haired martial artist. It was quite cute in a lot of ways but Sephiroth pushed those thoughts out of his mind, there were more important things to deal with right now and that was how things were going to be. Turning back to his father, he nodded, "Yeah…apparently so. For some reason he's not really shown his hand outside of Midgar as of yet but there could be a number of different reasons for that."

"I think it's because he knows Avalanche are still within or near enough to the city," Tifa responded, "Why bother sending your forces out far and wide on a massive world taking endeavour if you're going to leave the backdoor open for someone to just waltz in and cause utter havoc with your plan?"

"You sound way too much like Zack, Tifa," Cloud said with a shake of his head and a slight smile on his face.

Tifa winked at him, "Well when you hang out with the git for the better part of a year you do end up sounding like him. Don't be too surprised if he goes ballistic at me for ditching out when we get back there," she had already filled them in on the fact that Zack was with Avalanche and wasn't anything to do with the Shinra army anymore. Cloud hadn't been too surprised, knowing some of the events which had led up to that decision but didn't voice them.

Vincent sighed, "That could cause us problems then, if we don't get back before the other's start their own attack then we may loose our only chance to get into the city."

"I could call in a couple of favours if you wanted," Yuffie piped up with a trademark grin, "I won't be able to get any of my warriors here in time but there's an old captain who might just be up for a little action."

The group stared at her rather incredulously; they had come to learn that dealing with Yuffie was akin to getting lost in a maze with clear directions marking it out. "He's got an airship and would love to beat the stuffing out of Shinra for what they did to his beloved project. He gave me his number willingly," she said, looking huffy.

_Or more correctly Cosmos gave his mind a little prod in the semi-right direction _Chaos's voice spoke in Vincent's mind which caused the black haired man to roll his eyes in exasperation but not comment any further. This was certainly going to be an interesting situation indeed but it was one that they were going to have to face. Hojo and Jenova had to be stopped at all costs, before they tore the world into utter shreds and then attacked the countless other worlds which were supposed to be out there.

"So we're going to have to fight?" Kadaj asked, looking quite sickly at the idea but a glimmer in his eyes betrayed his excitement at the very idea of such a proposition.

The group was silent for a moment, watching Vincent as he had the misfortune of being the oldest one out of the group and therefore the one who was appointed the leader. The ex-Turk was silent a few more moments, glancing around the little cave and the boxes which had been set up here by someone a while ago. Clearly there was more than enough here to ensure that all of them could be easily kitted out with the best weapons and armour as well as enough items to ensure that they didn't run into trouble anytime soon. He was worried of course about risking the lives of these mere children but faintly he reminded himself that he hadn't been so different once.

Slowly he nodded, "It's not something that I want to do but there is no other way to stop such a menace. We're going to have to be quick and surprise attack them…Yuffie's airship may just be the right sort of thing to do that even if it is running the thin line between what's best in the long run and what will get us in the least un-noticed."

Sephiroth nodded, "Shame she doesn't have Zack's number, it would be good to contact him before hand and let him now."

Tifa grimaced, "Unfortunately I never earned enough to afford a PSF, though now I think about it such things would have been hand to have."

There was a slight chuckle from Cloud, "He wouldn't have his switched on anyway, it would be broken or taken apart for some form of spare parts or god knows what else by the end of the first day."

Yazoo grinned but didn't respond to the question, letting the others go over the basic attack plans and where would be best to position themselves in regards to everything. For a time he wondered if doing something like this would be worthwhile in the end. His head wasn't overly sure, filled with worries and too many horribly familiar scenarios but strangely he felt a twisting in his gut which said that this was the right way to go.

Yuffie picked up her PSF and started to dial the number, this was certainly going to be a fun excursion indeed.


	52. Attack

**disclaimer: Fanfiction, Fanfiction, Fanfiction**

**Authors note: Hello folks, about time I got sorted out on this. Hope this chapter was worth the wait ^^**

**Attack**

Skies above Midgar

Not having been at all surprised that Yuffie was sharing the airsickness with Yazoo, Vincent had been glad for an excuse to remain on the top deck and not have to listen to the girl whine. Whilst she had proved to be a resourceful aid, she was a complaining little brat who didn't have the foggiest notion of when it would be advisable to shut up. Still at least Yazoo had been decent enough to throw up on her, which had caused a whole load of more complaining but then silenced her with more sickness. Chaos had been rather glad of such a thing as well, but so far that voice was remaining quiet and unheeded.

Which meant only one thing to Vincent, trouble.

Tilting his head slightly to the side as he heard his son approaching, Vincent cast his red gaze back onto the approaching city, "Nervous?"

Sephiroth glanced up at his father before slowly nodding, "Terrified more like. I don't know what to expect in the slightest from this battle, even though I know it's been a long time coming."

"All warriors feel afraid before going into battle, those that don't aren't really aware of themselves," Vincent remembered his own Father's teachings with a sad smile, wondering if Grimor had ever had the slightest notion that his future family would have been caught up in such a hidden darkness that threatened to overspill into the world.

"Do you really think we can take down Hojo?" Sephiroth asked an uncharacteristic fear in his voice that brought back haunting memories of that long dark passageway under the Mansion. Vincent was silent, brooding for a few long seconds whilst the cloak he wore billowed around him in the increasing wind. He didn't know how to respond to that question because he had no idea about how this was all going to pan out. Would they be successful? Would Hojo realise what was going on and attack them first? Would this all be a waste of time?

Slowly he sighed, lightly shaking his head back and forth, "I don't know, son. I want to say yes, that we are more than strong enough to destroy this monster but after everything we've gone through…"

_Stop whining like a bitch! _Chaos's words stung through his head, stabbing him fiercely in the forehead so much that he physically reacted to the event with a long hiss; _you ain't a whining momma's boy Vincent Valentine! You're a kickass gunner whose going to royally kick that peebrains tail from here to kingdom come without whinnying like a half dead chocobo!_

"Chaos telling you off?" Sephiroth smirked, leaning one arm on the railing whilst he looked up at his father who was clearly seething. Vincent rolled his eyes, gave Chaos and his cronies a mental shove to behave themselves before lightly ruffling Sephiroth's hair, "Complaining worse than Yuffie at the moment actually."

"A fate worse than death," Sephiroth chuckled before turning his eyes towards the city and immediately spotting that something was off. He didn't need to feel his father's hand on his shoulder telling him silently to move and ensure that the others were ready to get moving as fast as he could.

Vincent stared at the nearing city, aware of the large defence systems that were being called into motion after many years of idle slumber. "Hold onto your hats folks," Cid's voice called from the cockpit of the airship, "This is going to be one rough ride!"

Tunnels under Midgar

"Ever get the feeling that something's just far too clean?" Barrett asked as the group made their way along the virtually gleaming tunnels that were leading slowly upwards towards the Shinra tower. None of the other's responded to his question but virtually all of them were thinking the same thing. Least of all Loz who remembered this tunnel for being dark, dank and nearly the reason why he had died three times over. This had been a monster ruled place, filled with evil intentions and a disgusting smell. There was no way that it should appear to be like this in the slightest.

Slowly he brought himself to a stop, looking up at a vent which presumably led to the street level above. Letting his senses run over him, the young boy took in everything and felt a sudden coldness stab at his heart. "It's not right," he murmured, hand clasping over the end of his gunblade, "We're being tricked."

Zack glanced around carefully, worried about the situation but unable to see past it, "How can you be so sure."

"No cars moving above," Loz said, still staring at the vent above their heads, "Last time there were many cars moving above, it infuriated the monsters more because they couldn't-"

Eisa suddenly and swiftly grabbed hold of her lover, throwing him roughly behind herself with a turn of strength that he had not expected in the slightest. As he stumbled upright and turned, he found himself facing a grotesque monster of a huge size that appeared to be constantly oozing a black sludgy slime which reeked of unspeakable substances. A large glowing spear hung from a winding tentacle, hovered over their heads to create the false image that they had been staring at. The dull yellow colour flicked back and forth, breaking the illusion and plunging them all into a thick black gunky darkness whilst the beast roared dangerous at them.

Had Eisa not been so aware of the creature behind them, they would have been taken by surprised and smothered by a harsh blanket of disgusting goo. Thwarted by a barrier spell, the beast roared and charged at them, slashing out with strange tentacles and poisonous clouds. Immediately the group were attacking, the males slashing and shooting with their swords and guns, kicking out where they could and ripping huge chucks out whilst they had a faintest chance to do so. Eisa defended Aerith, helping the healer to focus her powers where they were needed and burning up anything that came too close. The space was too tight to use summons and she didn't have enough time to call them forth either.

"Zack," Loz called, throwing a black device over to the solider before finding himself slammed into a nearby wall.

Not needing any second telling, Zack released the bomb after setting the charge, throwing it straight at the monster but the creature reacted quickly and sent it flying straight back towards the group of fighters. Barrett quickly got in and threw the bomb forward but even he could see that it was going to fall short. Loz managed a spectacular dive towards the device and hooked it with the broadside of his blade which he then flicked out towards the monster. Kitty leapt elegantly after it, using the white haired boy as a jumping board and head butted the device further forward with a blast of glowing cold air to help it along.

Aerith threw another bubble of hair behind the bomb, forcing it higher towards the creature's mouth where it landed but failed to go off. Eisa was quick to respond, throwing a simple fireball towards the things head whilst it tried to work out what had landed in its mouth before it had no more mouth to worry about.

Before anyone could get a smart quip in edgeways, there was a low grumble from the monster as it exploded outwards in a flurry of unsavoury substances and the roof collapsed in on top of it. "What the?" Zack asked, glancing up at the newly formed hole before finding himself being dragged backwards as Barrett smartly began running for his life along with the others as an airship smacked straight into the street above them.

Streets of Midgar

Total panic had gripped the people, the very second the anti-defence system started firing at the approaching airship which had been flanked by two others who had decided to turn up for the fun. Thankfully Cid was a bit of a veteran in air combat and had gotten everyone ready to go on the emergency escape plan. Which unfortunately meant air-boarding down the streets, not the best way to start a campaign but certainly better than nothing.

Sephiroth just about managed to keep his balance as the air-board tore towards the streets, followed by Vincent and Yazoo as Yuffie and Kadaj were taking the parachute route whilst Cid said he would simply land with his ship and get the smaller guns working to add to their advantage. He was pretty sure that the plan had already gone to hell in a hand basket but they had to do something to try and stop the madman who was ruining all of their lives right now. Launching himself into a nearby group of soldiers, he used his years of forced combat training in order to cut his way through the masses with the singing blade swinging back and forth in a gentle style.

Time lost all meaning as he kept on going, moving quickly back and forth in-between the gun shots and attempted slashes from swords that came his way. There were even a mixture of manna blasts at one point, but thankfully Yuffie's shuriken put a stop to all of that little lot. "Let's move," Vincent's voice ran out strong and determined above the chaos and Sephiroth hauled himself up, dragging Kadaj along with him before suddenly jerking out of the way of a random attack which sent him toppling into a side street.

The man who was attacking him was strange even to his eyes, standing tall and regal with the power of ages behind him. The long billowing black coat and impressive swordsmanship that was both equally graceful as it was deadly, added to the air of malovance that made the figure glow and shimmer almost as if he wasn't real. A sharp up thrust from the Masamune the other was wielding sent him flying back into a wall and he hissed dangerously as blood filtered into his vision. The man crept closer, taking long purposeful strides and Sephiroth found himself merely hissing at the other, his only thoughts of protecting his family from this unruly monster.

The green eyes blinked slowly, as if taking in all of the images that were running through the boy's head. It was strange staring at a man who looked so familiar and yet so alien that the boy's heart just wanted to collapse on itself. "Why couldn't I be like you and you more like me?" the figure asked, strong edges to his voice as the blade was raised again this time for a single thrust aimed straight at Sephiroth's heart. Before the blade could even reach its mark, another two filtered into view. One blade was deep and broad, lined with red figures and wielded by a figure dressed in a long red leather coat. The opposite was almost two fully stretch hands across and looked ancient and deadly. It was wielded by a stotic looking man with dark eyes who bore a striking resemblance to Zack's older brother.

"This one is not for you," said the first man, his tone a little cocky but full of understanding.

The second nodded his agreement, "You risk destroying everything by even touching him, my old friend. This world is only a mirror of ours, leave it be."

For a long moment there was silence and Sephiroth was sure that the white haired general, for what else could he be, would disobey the two and carry out his unspoken threat. The next blink however and all three were gone. Slumping to the floor, the boy touched his aching heart and had to wonder vaguely what was going on. That was until there was a massive screech from the sky which forced him to look up and see a brightly feathered Valfore racing down from the most glorious looking circle in the blackened sky. "Eisa," he said, forcing his body up and running back towards the battle.

Midgar Streets, Train Tracks

The bird summon swooped down with a billowing grace, flapping it's wings together in a large sonic boom to send the troops flying head over heels in a backwards motion. It then let out a second massive shriek before launching itself back into the air and unleashing a long beam of red towards the ground. It struck with a heavy force and broke through the concrete like it wasn't even there, causing it to crumble into a handy creator. Yuffie stared in sheer surprise as she would have never have guessed that there were any form of tunnels under the raging city that stood on massive plinths above the ground.

Figures were clambering out of the rubble and without thinking she moved forward to grab a hand and help pull up, "Wow, that was so cool!" she said to the figure, a young white haired male who blinked at her in confusion, "How did you do such a thing?"

"Loz!" two voices behind her yelled and suddenly the incredibly awesome ninja was flattened by both Yazoo and Kadaj as they wrapped themselves around their missing brother in some of the tightest hugs they had ever received. Tifa and Cloud ran to help Zack and Aerith out of the mess, also latching onto them in a vast array of hugs whilst Vincent scrambled down the rocks to tightly hug Eisa. "I'm so glad that you're safe," he said, kissing her head lightly before feeling his fighter's instincts kick in as something big and metal came trundling around the corner.

"Don't want to break up the party but we're not safe yet, Father," Eisa replied, quickly ducking out of a series of oncoming shots from what could only be described as a tank with multiple weapons unleashed itself on them. "Valefor! Get out of the way!"

The summon ignored it's mistress, instead heading towards the metallic beast to draw it's fire and try to destroy it before it's power became to unusable. Tifa twisted her head towards Zack, "What's the plan?" she yelled above the noise of a dying summon.

"Bomb the reactors and take away their power. It's the only chance we've got!" Zack yelled back, dodging another raging scattering of shrapnel.

"We're sitting ducks here if we don't move then," Vincent called, twisting back to see where Sephiroth was and getting a heart rending feeling that he wouldn't be seeing his son for a short time once again. "You still got the bombs?"

Loz shifted closer, "Only enough to hit three at the same time, we were hoping to use the confusion to attack several more with other devices."

There was a sudden whirring noise and Valefor rose straight up into the air with another of it's deafening shrieks before a long plume of purple light shot through the air and smacked straight into the metallic tank, sending it into a hundred thousand separate pieces. "Yippee-aye-ay-mother-fuckers," came Cid's voice from the other end of the coms systems, "time to move your butts and get some havoc caused. Got some of the boys to cover you for the time being so I would get a move on bombing sunshine's."

The group stared at one another before everyone nodded and took the opportunity to run without hindrance. They had more than enough fire power between them to get rid of the reactors so it would be a walk in the park in comparison to some of the things that they had done in the past.

Leastways that's all they could hope for right now.


	53. Bombing Mission

**Disclaimer: fanfiction, no own**

**Bombing Mission**

Running down the long, twisting road, Sephiroth found himself coming up against a virtual wall of terrified people heading in the opposite direction. Not that he blamed them of course, this situation was nothing like any of them had suspected and it was probably only going to get worse before it got better. Not something that he wanted to consider but when faced with death it was best to laugh and welcome the old friend who had been waiting for you since birth. Skidding to a halt on a bridge, he glanced around, mainly to get his bearings and suddenly realised something. There were virtually no Solider troops running through the crowd or holding key locations. There were people, hundreds upon thousands of terrified people but no Shinra guards and grunts trying to maintain the peace. "What is going on here?" he whispered before deciding to move off once again.

However before he could even move a couple of feet, a searing hot red pain shot through his skull and the world around him began to turn a violent red colour, _There you are my missing child. We shall see how much resistance you can put up when faced with my wrath._

Letting out a scream, Sephiroth felt as though he were trapped in some form of small pocket of reality, like a bubble, where only pain, torture and the honey dripping evil voice existed. It spoke words that became lost as his mind tried to lock itself down and protect itself but there was still understanding deep within his soul. _Kill them all, they did this to you. Make them pay for every life that they destroyed and become my beautiful one winged angel._

His skin began to burn from inside and he felt an insane, deadly anger begin to seep forth. It was next to impossible to understand but suddenly he hated Shinra, he hated Hojo with a passion and he hated the world. They had let him be created this way and they had done nothing to prevent the situation in the slightest. _What is most precious to you? _the voice asked, so sweetly in his head once more and without his bidding the memories of his mother, his father, his best friend and his little sister rushed through his mind. All of the good times, all of the bad times, bringing tears to his eyes and a burning sensation, where the large dark mark which had marred him for some time, ripped along his back and down his forearms.

_Give me the pleasure of taking it all away from you._

_Vincent_ Chaos's voice broke through the carnage once more, sounding concerned and unusually worried for a personification of malice _I would recommend that you find your son as quickly as possible. _

Barely even pausing as he sent another wave of shots towards the door keepers to the reactor, Vincent knew he couldn't ignore the other when he spoke like that. Just he had to pick the most inopportune moment to raise the concern. _Why, what's the matter?_

There was a pause, almost as if the creature was thinking of the best way to describe the situation. In the end he only spoke one word, one tiny little word which would be enough to strike fear deep into the heart of the man who had lived through so many different battles with evil over the long years of his life. Chaos was good at the screaming and yelling but justification and rationalisation were definitely not his strong points in the slightest. Still the word he chose this time covered every last standing that Vincent needed without being over eloquent or riddlesome.

The word that Chaos spoke to Vincent was simply; _Jenova_

From high above the planet, the Goddess Cosmos stared down at the battle wondering how it had all come to this. Her hands were clasped in front of her, almost like she was praying whilst her long shimmering hair moved back and forth in a gentle breeze filled with concern, anguish and anxiety. "Please, they have to win else my path will prove to be futile."

"It is possible for you to change the circumstances, My Lady Cosmos," Izarra's voice crept into the great goddess's hearing though the creature did not show herself, "Your planets weapons have done that they can but I fear that it will take some greater intervention to bring this battle out to the best of your wishes."

Cosmos shook her head, "I cannot interfere until the time is right."

"Chaos interfered," the point was made with no real scathing remarks but there was a bit of a tease directed towards the Goddess.

A half smile formed on the shimmering maiden's lips, "He is merely a part of this planet and is not my eternal rival. He came from me to do the bidding and play his role out…I grant you that I did not expect him to grow a sense of passion but -"

"_She_ will try to take the boy, turn this world into a vessel to capture the rest of the worlds and make them all _her _slaves with no alliance to you or Chaos. I know that you are merciful but there are times when being cruel and devious is the only path available my lady," Izarra spoke gently, seeming to speak from the depths of the grave even though she was standing only a few feet behind.

"Do you speak as a force for evil or a force for good?" Cosmos challenged, still not turning around to face Izarra in the slightest.

There was a long pause for a few seconds, and then a slight swirling mist of no discernable colour appeared on the table in front of Cosmos. Slowly a large map appeared, showing a large landscape with various towns and cities marked upon it. Small representations of figures appeared, some bathed in white whilst others where in darker shades of red, purple and black. The figures hand appeared next in the goddess's view, the two bone dice resting in between them. "I am merely a figure on a map in an ongoing game, only the dice decide my fate and they are rolled by yourself and Chaos. This world is no different from the plight down there and if it is not redirected then…"

"He will win ultimately and plunge the universe into an inescapable void," Cosmos muttered, gently taking the dice from the other's hand. They immediately turned into clear shimmering marble with golden numbers and symbols which remained fixed and perfectly formed. "I cannot loose what I set out to create…this is not interference, this is a choice between saving one world to change the fates of many others."

Throwing the two dice up high, Cosmos and Izarra watched as they crashed back onto the table top, rolled back and forth, clashed into one another and then landed still and silent. The golden numbers showed clearly enough, "A double One…it is indeed an unfortunate day but one that is necessary."

"Bombs all ready, high tail out of here!" Barrett yelled, dragging Yuffie out with him whilst the others were already twenty steps ahead of him. The countdown would give them just enough time to get out of the reactor unit but not completely clear of the blast zone.

Leaping clear of the doorway when it presented itself, Zack tumbled to the ground in order to protect Aerith from the fireball that ripped outwards before pulling himself upright and twisting suddenly at hearing yet another reactor go on the opposite side of Midgar. He grinned, "All right, only two left in operation! We're going to do this baby…" his words floundered in his throat as the young Ancient pointed up in terror towards the sky, her large green eyes wide and filled with something that he could not quite identify.

Twisting he stared at the long tendrils of dark red lightening that filled up the sky above, forming a long and complicated net that was slowly winding its way into a long column like a tornado as it headed downwards. The air around him appeared to freeze and yet burn at the same time, "What is it?"

"I don't know," Aerith replied, "But it appeared just after that."

Barrett cursed as he stared upwards, seeing another long winding cloud coming down bar this one was grey and black. Distantly he thought he could hear wailing and moaning somewhere but it was impossible to focus upon. Immediately he grabbed his PHS and dialled the first number he could find for the other team. "Cloud! Get your butts moving, something big is about to go down in Midgar and it's not going to be caused…"

There came another explosion, this time from way to the north which indicated that Cloud and Tifa had been successful in detonating their bomb whilst to the south there was also a plume of fire into the air which said that the trio along with Eisa had managed to activate the self destruct on the last reactor. For a long moment there was a harrowing silence throughout the whole of Midgar before two distinct screams, both recognisable yet completely alien to the entire group raced through the air, sending sharp spikes of hot horror and cold dread through them all.

"They're not supposed to battle," Aerith whispered gently, "They're not supposed to be together."

"Who?" Zack asked, trying to rid himself of the horror and finding that it froze his heart.

Aerith slowly turned to him, large glassy tears falling down her face, "Sephiroth and Eisa…they're not meant to be brother and sister…they're not meant to exist here in this reality. She comes from another place, a whole different existence. If they are each others salvation they destroy our world, if they destroy one another they change everything…"

"Bombs set! Let's move," Loz said, hurrying away from the device and nearly colliding with Vincent who strangely appeared to be out of his depth but quickly they were moving once again. It didn't take long for the self destruct to go off, but Eisa was there to protect them with a barrier spell. "Right, time to go and meet up with the others right?" the silver haired boy said with a grin which Eisa nodded to before realising that her father was moving away in the wrong direction.

"Father?" she asked, taking a couple of steps towards him and barely paying attention to the sudden increase of pain from her own geostigma, "We're supposed to meet up with the others in"

Vincent paused, "I know…but I have to find your older brother. Something is not right with him."

Loz swung his gunblade over his shoulder, "No worries, we can easily swing by and give Sephiroth a hand."

"No, you stay with Eisa and make sure that you both meet up with the rest of Avalanche. We'll catch up as soon as we can," he didn't know why but there was something in the air which made Vincent feel edgy. He wanted to run to his son but at the same time there was something making him want to remain with his daughter. _She has Loz, she will be fine. Sephiroth is alone Vinny, we haven't got time to dawdle! _

The young teens exchanged a glance before Eisa simply shrugged, "We'll tell them when we meet up. If worse comes to the worst we'll be in front of the Shinra building if we're not at the meeting place."

Turning back to glance over his shoulder, Vincent smiled briefly at his daughter but couldn't shake the feeling that this would be one of the last times that he would see her like this. He nodded and set off at a brisk pace, which meant he was out of sight within a few moments.

Loz glanced at Eisa, "What's the matter with Vincent?"

The girl shrugged in return, "I have no idea…come on, we best get a move on unless we want to face the hordes of Babylon by ourselves."

Soon the pair were running through the now virtually empty streets which was making even less sense as Hojo appeared to be quite happy to make them all wait for the big master plan that he had. Well whatever the old monster was up to they had no complaints as it gave them time to quickly sort out some pilfered armour as well as down a few replenishment drinks to make the upcoming battle a whole lot more comfortable to deal with.

Realising after maybe two hundred yards that Eisa was no longer beside him, Loz turned back to see that the black haired girl had stopped to stare up at a angel statue. "Eisa!" he called, waiting for her to look at him before signalling that she should follow him. He was surprised when all she did was go back to looking at the statue. Quickly he hurried back and tried to latch onto her arm, "Eisa? What's the matter?"

"Whose Eisa?" the girl asked, turning her usually red eyes onto Loz's only but he found himself shocked to see that they were a blanched white with a silver pupil, "I do not recall that name ever being associated with me."

Loz backed up half a step, even the voice was wrong. It was raw and rough, almost as if the speaker hadn't drank anything for a very long time. Somehow he knew that it was still his Eisa he was looking at but something was happening to her. He reached out and pulled her away from the statue on instinct, amazed to see her revert back to her usual self but looking utterly terrified.

"Eisa!" he tried to hug her, despite the fact that she had collapsed to her knees in groaning pain, "What's going on?"

"Run," the word came out breathy and the girl sounded like she had just ran several hundred miles, "Get away from me Loz!"

The white haired youth found himself pushed backwards, virtually half way down the street and just barely got to a stop before he saw the dark red looking vines tornadoing down towards Eisa. Before he could get into a crouched position to rush towards the girl, the child had looked up and seen the vines before letting out a scream filled with terror and determination. Suddenly there were matching red lines on her body, following the path of the geostigma and visible even through her clothing. The vines floundered for maybe a second before suddenly diving onto the girl and a dazzling red glow filled the street, forcing Loz to close his eyes.

When he opened them, Eisa was gone.


	54. Vanishing Time

**Disclaimer: no own**

**Vanishing Time**

The scholars recorded the events of Midgar with uncertainty, as it seemed on the surface that there was no one left alive within the city. Or more correctly it was impossible to enter through the thick stone that had swarmed down on the artificial city to lock it away. There were stories told of a thousand different coloured souls rising out of the depths one night and soaring high into the sky to disappear but many saw this as simply an old wives tale to entertain the children and stop them worrying too much. However the rocks were unyielding, no matter what was thrown at them, trapping their carefully guarded secret beyond the reach of even the strongest man, woman and child in the lands.

The Scholars made up several theories of what happened, how in one version the reactor had gone nebular on itself and imploded, taking the city down into the depths of the planet and throwing up vast miles of steaming hot molten lava which steamed for days on end before finally cooling enough to become solid rock. A quaint little idea that went around for a few days was that an Ancient had summoned the ultimate Weapon which had cleansed the vile work of Shinra but at a horrendous price, though this was discredited quickly because Ancients were not exactly the easiest of peoples to confirm the existence of.

The third and fourth stories were brushed aside by the scientists for being wilful fantasies or more correctly due to the fact that they all felt that same fear whenever the tales were told. The first version of this fantastical event was that two great beings from beyond the stars who had been trapped within the planet's core several millennia ago had been unwittingly unleashed by the work of Shinra and Avalanche. The pair had resorted to fighting one another for dominance over the planet which had swept up the entire city into an endless duel that was only locked away by something far greater than the two and under the rocks there was still a battle raging on that would never end as the two combatants would never realise it was a useless folly they had gotten themselves into.

The second version of events was generally left to those quiet folks who wisely kept their mouths shut when talking about such things. It was also the closest to the truth, as far as anyone could confirm of course, but it was always carefully whispered about in order to keep the balance between the light and the darkness. This tale spoke of a brother and sister who were not meant to be, and how through a simple act of kindness the minion of Chaos nearly brought two worlds crashing together in a torrid of sparks that would have destroyed the entire world. The brother and sister had meant initially to rid the world of the evil forces that had caused them so much pain over the years but neither realised that they were both supposed to be a small fraction of this deadly darkness however far spread across the multiverse on different worlds. Their battle to be champions of light quickly turned to the darkness within their hearts and they found themselves locked in a vicious battle as the realm of Chaos attempted to swarm over the beautiful light that Cosmos had created.

Turning on friend, foe and family alike, the pair struggled back and forth for an untold length of time, attacking, counter-attacking, and throwing dangerous spells across the length and breath of the city until there came a point where both struck a final death blow. Before either could emerge victorious, there was a sudden bright swirling black, red and grey light that attempted to engulf the world in its entirety. The two fighting beings shoved aside their arguments for a brief time in order to stop this greater evil and for a time afterwards there was only darkness.

"Sephiroth?"

"Yes?"

"You do realise what will happen now?"

"Of course, but it is a price that I am willing to pay."

"You are prepared to surrender yourself eternally to the realm of Chaos?"

"If that is to be my fate, then that is what I must do. Hero's are born; they are not made in this world. Whatever force managed to change that fact has been responsible for the near destruction…I loose everything that I gained in this life but sacrifice is the better part of valour."

"If only this realm could withhold you, you would be the greatest hero in the known universe."

"I'm not meant for this realm, just like she is not. But she has a stronger chance at redemption than what I do. The Lifestream must be prepared and the world must play out as it always has done and always will. Thank you, Cosmos, for showing me this life…even though it was not entirely of your design. I am ready to go back and be what I am meant to be."

"Wouldn't you like one last word with her? Once you return your paths will not again cross until the end of days when all of the worlds must battle to defeat the true darkness."

"No, it is better that I do not. Though part of me wishes for such a thing…her fate is out of my hands now, she must find her own path, in her own world, away from me."

"Very well…Let the battle begin once again."

The End

Authors note: Well folks, at long last we've come to the end of this very long journey which simply began with me querying What If all of those years ago. Thanks to all of you who had read this fic, reviewed it and put up with me taking forever to update it.

Feels a little like a copout at the end, even I'll admit that, but with my life full of many different things now I thought it would be best just to get it all nicely rounded off and at least finished coherently.

I hope you have enjoyed the ride and will keep this one in your good fanfiction books for a long time to come.

Yours truly,

Wacky Walnut


End file.
